Tag Archives: leprosy

Dealing with the viral pandemic of the disease of sin (part 2)

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Leviticus 12–13 Explained

These chapters are perhaps some of the most difficult of the Torah for modern people to understand much less to ascertain the relevance of, so often we pass over them without much thought. However, when we view them from a more drash or allegorical level of biblical interpretation, suddenly they take on a whole new meaning and are packed full of deep revelations pertaining to our perennial internal struggle against sin as well as with sin in the world around us we explain in the discussion below. Sin is not a popular subject to discuss, but if we are to rise to the spiritual level for which Elohim created us—to be in some sense like him (1 John 3:1-3).

The Hebrew Terms Relating to This Passage Defined

  • Tzaraas: a skin disease (improperly translated as “leprosy” in some Bibles). This Hebrew word means “to be struck with leprosy” (BDB) or “to smite heavily, to strike, or scourged of Elohim” since the leprosy was viewed as a special divine infliction (Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, pp. 248–249) against such sins as jealousy (cf. Miriam, anger, lack of full compliance with Elohim’s commands (cf. King Uzziah), and covetousness (cf. TWOT, p. 777).
  • Niddah: this refers to someone who is separated or menstruous.
  • Tumah: this refers to spiritual impurity.
  • Metzora: one with a skin disease; Metzora is a contraction of the Hebrew word motzi and ra meaning “one who speaks slander.”

The Issues Explained

Leviticus chapters 12 and 13 deal with the subject of human contamination and delineates what could seem to be a lot of irrelevant and archaic, if not arcane, regulations relating to childbirth and skin diseases. Why is YHVH so concerned about “human contamination”? What is the larger picture here to help us gain understanding into the Father’s intent and heart behind these Torah-laws? The Jewish sages teach that man must not forget that even the gnats and earthworms preceded him in the creation. This is to teach man humility. But conversely, each stage of Elohim’s creation added something to that which had been created previously and that man was the final, crowning touch that would pull all the creation together to fulfill its purpose of spirituality in the performance of Elohim’s will. Man is therefore the last of the creatures to be created, but the first in significance because he is the purpose of it all and that if man is not worthy of his calling, then he has added nothing of substance to YHVH’s handiwork (The ArtScroll Tanach Series Vayikra, p. 184).

All this is to say that YHVH has a plan to redeem man from his sinful or depraved (animalistic) state. Man can choose to be elevated to this higher spiritual plane or to remain in a state no better than that of a gnat or a worm having added nothing to the creation’s spiritual betterment. 

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Leviticus 12–13 Explained

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The Hebrew Terms Relating to This Passage Defined

  • Tzaraas: a skin disease (improperly translated as “leprosy” in some Bibles). This Hebrew word means “to be struck with leprosy (BDB)” or “to smite heavily, to strike, or scourged of Elohim” since the leprosy was viewed as a special divine infliction (Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, pp. 248–249) against such sins as jealousy (cf. Miriam, anger, lack of full compliance with Elohim’s commands (cf. King Uzziah), and covetousness (cf. Gehazi, TWOT, p. 777).
  • Niddah: someone who is separated or menstruous
  • Tumah: spiritual impurity
  • Metzora: one with a skin disease; a contraction of the Hebrew word motzi and ra meaning “one who speaks slander”

The Issues Explained

Leviticus 12 and 13 deal with the subject of human contamination and delineates what could seem to be a lot of irrelevant and archaic, if not arcane, regulations relating to childbirth and skin diseases. Why is YHVH so concerned about “human contamination”? What is the larger picture here to help us gain understanding into the Father’s intent and heart behind these Torah-laws? The Jewish sages teach that man must not forget that even the gnats and earthworms preceded him in the creation. This is to teach man humility. But conversely, each stage of Elohim’s creation added something to that which had been created previously and that man was the final, crowning touch that would pull all the creation together to fulfill its purpose of spirituality in the performance of Elohim’s will. Man is therefore the last of the creatures to be created, but the first in significance because he is the purpose of it all and that if man is not worthy of his calling, then he has added nothing of substance to YHVH’s handiwork (The ArtScroll Tanach Series Vayikra, p. 184).

All this is to say that YHVH has a plan to redeem man from his sinful or depraved (animalistic) state. Man can choose to be elevated to this higher spiritual plane or to remain in a state no better than that of a gnat or a worm having added nothing to the creation’s spiritual betterment. The Jewish sages teach, and I think we can all agree, that the creation of human life is the most sublime phenomenon in the universe. Man is the only creature whom YHVH made in his own image. What’s more, when a husband and wife have children, they become partners with Elohim in creation (ibid., p. 185). But this is a mixed blessing, for it creates a blessing and a problem. While one new person is created Continue reading →

 

Digging for Treasure in Leviticus 14

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Treasure, digging-b 19866350

Leviticus 14:4–32, Yeshua in the skin disease cleansing ritual. Read this scripture passage and see how many clues you can find that point to Yeshua. We’ll give you hints along the way by providing you with the scriptures verses to look up that will give you the answers. The purpose of this exercise is to show you that all the ceremonies and rituals that were part of the sacrificial system and that all prophetically pointed to Yeshua the Messiah, who fulfilled them all. This means that if we place our trusting faith in him, we no longer have to do the laborious and involved rituals that our ancient forefathers had to do in order to atone for their sins—we simply have to repent and believe in, love, follow and obey Yeshua and his word.

Now let’s look at the ritual for cleansing a metzora (one with a skin disease—a picture of our sinfulness) who had tzaraas (an infectious skin disease caused by sin).

Verses 4–7, two birds: One bird (likely a dove or pigeon) was killed in a clay pot over running water. The other bird along with the cedar wood, scarlet cloth and hyssop were dipped into the clay pot containing the blood from the killed bird and the running water. The water blood mixture was then sprinkled on the diseased person (metzora) who was being purified, and the living bird was let loose and allowed to fly away. There is a lot going on here, but it all prophetically pointed to Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection. Before Continue reading →

 

The Similarities Between Sin and Germs

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The surprising way Leviticus chapters 12, 13 and 14 relate to you

These several chapters are some of the most difficult ones in the Torah for us to wrap our brains around spiritually. What is the relevance of these arcane laws of ritual impurity and “leprosy” to us in modern times ? With a little thought, we can see that there are some deep and relevant spiritual truths contained in these biblical passages!

As Matthew Henry points out in his classic gospel-oriented commentary on these passages, after the laws concerning clean and unclean foods in Leviticus 11 come the laws concerning clean and unclean persons. As germs are contagions causing physical disease, so man is infected with the spiritual contagion of a sin nature that brings about spiritual disease leading ultimately to death. Henry points out that man imparts his depraved sin nature to his offspring at the time of conception, which is why the woman needed to go through ritual cleansing at the time of a child’s birth. Similarly, the Bible teaches us that the plague of leprosy (Heb. tzaaras referring to a generic skin disease) was judgment by Eohim against the sins of rebellion, greed and misuse of the tongue (e.g, Miriam, Gehazi and King Uzziah).

The spread of and cure for spiritual diseases is similar to those of physical diseases, as we’ll discuss below. First, however, let’s compare and contrast how physical germs are similar to spiritual sin “germs.” Continue reading →

 

What’s the Significance of Moses’ Three Miracles?

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Here’s question from Jim M.

I was wondering if you knew what the sages had to say about the 3 signs Moses was given by God to authenticate his ministry. God could have chosen rainbows, butterflies, and the Hallelujah chorus to send back with Moses. Instead He chooses a poisonous snake, leprosy, and water into blood. To me these signs all speak of rebellion, sin, and death.

Here are my thoughts:

Exodus 4:3, Serpent. A serpent can be a biblical metaphor for Satan or demonic powers (e.g., Gen 3:1; Luke 10:19 cp. 9:1 and Mark 16:18; Rev 12:9; 20:2). Pharaoh as ruler over Egypt (a metaphor for this world) was a type of Satan who is the ruler of this world. A rod or a staff can be a biblical metaphor for power, authority, rulership or judgment (Gen 38:18; Exod 4:17, 20; Ps 2:9; Rev 19:15). In this verse, it seems evident that YHVH was giving Moses authority over the powers of Satan and his forces. When Moses cast down his rod, it became a serpent, and Moses was immediately able to assume control over the serpent at will for the purposes of advancing YHVH’s spiritual kingdom. This seems to have been YHVH’s way of showing Moses that he was giving him supernatural authority over Pharaoh (Satan) in fulfilling his divine commission to liberate the children of Israel. The staff changing into a serpent reminds us of the authority Yeshua gave his disciples to cast out demons and to heal diseases (Luke 9:1; 10:19; Mark 16:15–18). Furthermore, YHVH instructed Moses to construct a bronze serpent and place it on a pole so that when the Israelites looked on it, they were healed of the bites of the fiery serpents (Num 21:8). The serpent represents sin, since it is Satan the serpent who introduced sin to man in the Garden of Eden, which brought upon man the curse of death. Yeshua took that curse on himself when he was lifted up on the cross of judgment as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14). Yeshua defeated Satan the serpent at the cross, even as Moses’ serpent defeated the serpents of the satanic Pharaoh’s magicians.

Exodus 4:6, Put your hand in your bosom. This second sign was to demonstrate Moses’ authority over sickness, disease and sin. Leprosy is as biblical metaphor for sin and the fact that it’s highly contagious (Lev 13–14). Only the Yeshua’s death on the cross can heal men of this spiritual disease as the Torah’s cleansing ritual for leprosy metaphorically points to (Lev 14:4–7).

Exodus 4:9, Blood on the dry land. This was the third sign or witness that YHVH gave Moses as confirmation of his divine commission. The Scripture instructs us to confirm things in the mouth of two or three witnesses (2 Cor 13:1). The Nile River and god to the Egyptians and was the source of much of Egypt’s economic wealth, since it watered that country’s crops. Bringing the judgment of death upon the Nile’s waters was a judgment against one of Egypt’s gods and its economic might.

Exodus 4:3–9, A summary. The three signs that YHVH had Moses perform to Pharaoh were merely warning shots against a wicked and unrepentant nation instructing them to submit to YHVH’s will. YHVH was telling the Egyptians that if they refused to obey his prophet, he would unleash demonic spirits, plagues of sickness and economic destruction on that nation. These are YHVH’s judgments against a nation that refuses to repent. Of course, Egypt refused to obey YHVH, and so he not only brought these judgments against Egypt, but much more, such that Egypt was totally destroyed. The same fate befalls the Mystery Babylon the Great worldwide system of the end times as we read about in the Book of Revelation.

 

What Is leprosy and what were its causes?

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Leviticus 14:3, Plague of leprosy. Some of the English translations of this scripture verse use the word leprosy for the skin disease described in these passages. This is a mistranslation. A better translation would be infectious skin disease.

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The Jewish sages teach that the skin disease described here is a supernaturally caused ailment that falls only on Israelites who are actually living in the land of Israel. They also teach that this is YHVH’s way of identifying the evil sins of gossip and slander (along with haughtiness, selfishness and jealousy) before this sin spreads throughout the land engulfing it like a forest fire from hell. (Read James 3:5–6!) This may explain why Miriam while wandering in the wilderness outside of Israel contracted this skin disease.

The disease would cause the sinner’s face to resemble a red flag for all to see. An afflicted person would be forced to live outside the camp until repentance along with atonement and purification rituals had occurred, and all this occurred under the watchful eye of a priest.

As you read this, you may be wiping your brow with a sigh of relief thankful that Continue reading →