Leviticus 13

Leprosy… This disease found in scripture was awful, attacking the body, rendering the individual permanently unclean, having no known cure. It is different from what we call leprosy today; some commentators compare it to Elephantiasis, or other flesh eating diseases. This chapter is all about diagnosing it, and the next is about the cleansing process if someone was healed of it.

It is a vivid picture for us of sin. Think about it: sin renders a person permanently unclean. In Jewish culture a person unclean was completely cut off from fellowship. They could no longer worship in the temple. They could no longer live with their families. They were sent outside the city to live in a colony of fellow lepers. As Sinners we are separated from God; cut off from fellowship, sent outside of the family of God. Like lepers we have lost the privilege to experience life the way it was intended to be lived.

Leprosy deadens the skin it attacks. People with Leprosy often lost fingers, toes, etc… because they couldn’t feel anything. Sin is the same. It deadens us, destroying our conscience, removing our ability to feel. Our lives are being destroyed by it, and we can’t even feel it.

There was no cure for Leprosy. We have no cure for sin. Nothing could be done by an individual to take away the Leprosy, or to even stop its spread… all they could do was isolate the individual. Sin is the same way. There is nothing we can do as humans to rid ourselves of it, or even to stop it from further decaying us. In both cases, sin and leprosy, the only hope is a direct intervention from God.

When I read about leprosy in these verses, one of things that strikes me about it is this: It is noticeable. You couldn’t have it for long without it showing up in an obvious way. Sin is the same. It can’t be hidden forever; it always shows up on the surface in some obvious way. Praise God for the remedy he has given us for sin! Don’t try and cover your sin, like a person wanting to conceal their leprosy… and don’t try to manage it either… Instead, come to Jesus and let Him heal you completely!