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THE HOPE OF WALKING DEAD MEN!
In the beginning man was warned that disobedience
meant death. For in Genesis 2:16 - 17 we read:
But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You
may freely eat any fruit in the garden 17 except fruit from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die." (NLT)
The obvious implication of this command is that
man, being created in the image of God, made his own choices. Unlike the
solar system which operates mechanically, man was created to express his love
for God by the wonder of choice. He was a non-programmed creature that
lived or died by his choices; just as our choices turn around and make us for
good or evil.
Well you know what happened, it wasn't too long
before Adam and Eve made the wrong choice. Prompted by Satan's lie
that they could be the god of their own lives, they chose to eat forbidden fruit. Yet,
death as we usually think about death wasn't the immediate consequence of their
disobedience. Instead they were banished from the Garden of Eden with
the loss of all the benefits that went along with living in God's presence. In
short, in a very real sense, they became walking dead men.
This is what we see in Leviticus 13 where every
man and woman diagnosed with a serious skin disease suffered a similar fate. But
before we take a close look at chapter 13 we need to make note of the fact that
chapters 13 and 14 are meant to be taken in as a single unit. This is
readily evident in the original language for the same Hebrew word is used whether
it is an infectious skin disease, or spreading mildew. But in our English
translation we may not see the thematic nature of the two chapters until we read
the last few verses of chapter 14. They read:1
These are the regulations for any infectious skin
disease, for an itch, 55 for mildew in clothing or in a house, 56
and for a swelling, a rash or a bright spot, 57 to determine when something
is clean or unclean.
It may seem strange to us to place all of these
conditions within the same category of "infectious skin diseases." But
the author of Leviticus saw enough similarities between them to do so. For
all of them share the following characteristics:
-
They discolor the surface (13:3, 49; 14:37).
-
They affect only part of the object (13:9 - 13; 14:37, 42, 55).
-
They are more than superficial (13:3; 14:37).
-
They actively spread (13:7, 51; 14:44).
We're now ready to see just how serious a matter
this is within the camp of Israel. In Leviticus 13 we read:
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2 "If
some of the people notice a swelling or a rash or a shiny patch on their skin
that develops into a contagious skin disease, they must be brought to Aaron the
priest or to one of his sons. 3 The priest will then examine the affected
area of a person's skin. If the hair in the affected area has turned white and
appears to be more than skin-deep, then it is a contagious skin disease, and
the priest must pronounce the person ceremonially unclean.
"But if the affected area of the skin is
white but does not appear to be more than skin-deep, and if the hair in the spot
has not turned white, the priest will put the infected person in quarantine for
seven days. 5 On the seventh day the priest will make another examination.
If the affected area has not changed or spread on the skin, then the priest will
put the person in quarantine for seven more days. 6 The priest will examine
the skin again on the seventh day. If the affected area has faded and not spread,
the priest will pronounce the person ceremonially clean. It was only a temporary
rash. So after washing the clothes, the person will be considered free of disease. 7
But if the rash continues to spread after this examination and pronouncement
by the priest, the infected person must return to be examined again. 8
If the priest notices that the rash has spread, then he must pronounce this person
ceremonially unclean, for it is a contagious skin disease.
Dropping down to vv. 18 - 20 we read:
"If anyone has had a boil on the skin that
has started to heal, 19 but a white swelling or a reddish white spot remains
in its place, that person must go to the priest to be examined. 20 If the
priest finds the disease to be more than skin-deep, and if the hair in the affected
area has turned white, then the priest must pronounce that person ceremonially
unclean. It is a contagious skin disease that has broken out in the boil.
Dropping down to vv. 40 - 46 we read:
"If a man loses his hair and his head becomes
bald, he is still ceremonially clean. 41 And if he loses hair on his forehead,
he simply has a bald forehead; he is still clean. 42 However, if a reddish
white infection appears on the front or the back of his head, this is a contagious
skin disease. 43 The priest must examine him, and if he finds swelling
around the reddish white sore, 44 the man is infected with a contagious
skin disease and is unclean. The priest must pronounce him ceremonially unclean
because of the infection.
"Those who suffer from any contagious skin
disease must tear their clothing and allow their hair to hang loose. Then, as
they go from place to place, they must cover their mouth and call out, 'Unclean!
Unclean!' 46 As long as the disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean
and must live in isolation outside the camp.
You will note that each diagnosis is a result
of the same procedure. First, there is a preliminary description of the
symptoms. Second, there is an examination by the priest. Third, there
is a statement of the specific symptoms on which the priest must make his diagnosis. Fourth,
once the priest has confirmed his finding, and this may require more than one
examination, there is the pronouncement as to whether the person is clean or
unclean.2 3
At this point it would be natural, and it's probably
a common mistake, to think of the priest as a physician. But they didn't
examine those who came to see them with a cure in mind. That is, they didn't
send them to the nearest pharmacy to fulfill a prescription with the advertised
potential of taking care of the problem. Neither did they prescribe a home
remedy or an exorcism. They weren't behaving as doctors, they were behaving
as public health inspectors.
Their job was not to cure anyone, but to simply
declare the worshiper to be clean or unclean, normal or abnormal, whole or tainted. If
he or she was declared clean, they breathed a sigh of relief. If the worshiper
was declared unclean they went home, packed their bags, said their good-byes,
and wept. After composing themselves they then walked out of camp on their
own, or they were escorted out by one of the priest.
It is important to see the emotional drama within
both the priest and the patient. The priest must've hesitated to inform
someone, perhaps a friend, that they were unclean. It is perhaps for this
reason that 13:44 tells them they must do what they have to do. Likewise,
for the one who was told the bad news it must have been difficult for them to
pack up a few personal belongings and leave the camp. For in doing so,
he or she joined the walking dead to be forever in a state of mourning. But
to their credit they both did what needed to be done.4
Why? Because something was at stake here
that was more important than the two of them put together. The purity of the
tabernacle and the holiness of the camp meant far more to those who had been
rescued out of darkness then the blight of those who had been declared unclean. What
was tragic, but was nevertheless part of living in a fallen world, was that nowhere
in Leviticus 13 do we see the "infectious skin diseases" being a result
of personal sin.
Miriam, Gehazi (II Kings 4 - 5), and others reaped
what they had sown. Some, like Job, were chosen to be tested. But
most simply came down with an "infectious skin disease" by living in
a world prone toward disease and decay. Their suffering, their discomfort,
was through no fault of their own. Nevertheless, the holiness of the camp
had to be preserved. And like it or not, holiness demands that we pay attention
to the details of our lives.
If you think about the environment in which we
live, it is easy to see polluting influences everywhere. We know this is
true in our physical environment. For example, one of our local news stations
tells us of restaurants that have failed to measure up to state health standards. The
station calls it the "Dirty Dining Report" and by sharing it with us
they are warning us not to patronize such establishments. It's gross, but
it reminds us that we live in a fallen world. A world that threatens our
health every single day.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. The
world of entertainment produces some wonderful shows but it also produces an
awful lot of junk, even filth. The printed page, whether its a newspaper
or a good book, has greatly benefited mankind. It has also led many down
the road to destruction. And most of the conversations that you and I have
with others are okay, perhaps even encouraging. But where there are many
words, sin is not absent. Unless we exercise care in all things, our heart
and mind will soon be as polluted, soiled, as our environment. You see,
if Leviticus 13 teaches us anything it ought to teach us that holiness demands
that we pay attention to the details of our lives. ( See Proverbs 4:23)
If we stopped at the end of chapter 13, the walking
dead would be pretty discouraged. But God doesn't want to leave us down
and out. That's why the Spirit has coupled the good news of the fourteenth
chapter with the realities of the thirteenth chapter. Where Leviticus 13
was bleak, Leviticus 14 is full of hope for in it the one who suffered outside
the camp has hope of being restored to the community, to God, and to service. We
read:
And the LORD said to Moses, 2 "The
following instructions must be followed by those seeking purification from a
contagious skin disease. Those who have been healed must be brought to the priest, 3
who will examine them at a place outside the camp. If the priest finds that someone
has been healed of the skin disease, 4 he will perform a purification ceremony,
using two wild birds of a kind permitted for food, along with some cedarwood,
a scarlet cloth, and a hyssop branch. 5 The priest will order one of the
birds to be slaughtered over a clay pot that is filled with fresh springwater. 6
He will then dip the living bird, along with the cedarwood, the scarlet cloth,
and the hyssop branch, into the blood of the slaughtered bird. 7 The priest
will also sprinkle the dead bird's blood seven times over the person being purified,
and the priest will pronounce that person to be ceremonially clean. At the end
of the ceremony, the priest will set the living bird free so it can fly away
into the open fields.
"The people being purified must complete
the cleansing ceremony by washing their clothes, shaving off all their hair,
and bathing themselves in water. Then they will be ceremonially clean and may
return to live inside the camp. However, they must still remain outside their
tents for seven days. 9 On the seventh day, they must again shave off all
their hair, including the hair of the beard and eyebrows, and wash their clothes
and bathe themselves in water. Then they will be pronounced ceremonially clean.
You'll note the one who suffered an "infectious
skin disease" was healed. No hint is given as to how this happened. All
we know for sure is that their fate was in God's hands and in his mercy and grace
he healed them or saw they were healed through others. Either way, the
focus is now on the restoration of the person who had been delivered from seeming
death to life, from outside the camp of God's people to inside the camp, to inside
the Tent of Meeting.
Normally, for good reason, I don't jump from Leviticus
to the New Testament. I don't make the jump because I want us to understand
Leviticus the way those who first read it understood it. So how did they
receive Leviticus 14? They received it for what it was - good news! Good
news for it held out hope that life could be restored!
So, if I made the leap here is how Leviticus 14
would come across in the New Testament on this Easter morning. In
the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus you and I have been retrieved from
death to life, from outside the camp of God's people to inside the camp (church)
to inside the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
1 What makes matters worse is that traditionally English
translations, taking their lead from the Greek translation, have rendered the
word for "serious skin diseases" as "leprosy." This
is obviously inappropriate for mold or mildew. As for the various skin
complaints in Leviticus 13, it is doubtful that any of them correspond to Hansen's
disease; i. e. leprosy.
2 A scholar by the name of E. V. Hulse believes the "infectious
skin disease" of 13:2 is Psoriasis, the "infectious skin disease" of
13:29 is favus, and the harmless spots of 13:38 - 39 is vitiligo (leucoderma). Psoriasis
is a chronic skin disease characterized by the presence of well-demarcated,
slightly raised reddish patches of various sizes covered by dry grayish-white
or silvery scales. Favus is a much more severe and damaging infection
in which the fungus invades both the hair and the full thickness of the skin. Yellow
cup-shaped crusts are formed round loose wiry hairs which are the color of
hay and a mouse-like odor is present. Leucoderma is a slightly disfiguring
condition in which patches of otherwise normal skin lose their natural coloring
and become completely white. It does not penetrate below the surface.
3 The periods of confinement enabled the priest to make
an accurate diagnosis. In light of the grim consequences faced by someone
who was diagnosed with an "infectious skin disease," this was not
an issue to be taken lightly.
4 Elsewhere in Scripture we see this penalty
carried out. When Miriam, Moses' sister suffered from a skin disease,
see Numbers 12, due to rebellion on her part, she was shut out of the camp
for seven days. The reason she was banished for just one week was that Moses
interceded on her behalf, otherwise it would have been for an indefinite period
of time. Then, in II KIngs 7 we find four lepers who lived outside of
the city gate.
LEVITICUS - GOD'S GUIDEBOOK TO WORSHIP 4/16/06
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