Leviticus 13:45-59
OF ALL diseases leprosy is the most loathsome, and it is incurable by any skill or effort of man. The poor leper was in himself utterly helpless to remove his disease. So sad was his condition that contact with him was only to partake of his defilement.
“He is unclean;... his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean... He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”
He was outside all the privileges of the people of God—the standing type of the sinner, unreconciled, unclean, not only before God but commanded to declare it to others as well. Nothing can be sadder or call for more pity than the state of the poor leper.
His rent garments were to declare his misery and his grief. For a time they might have covered up his leprous spots, but now rent they only reveal his defilement. How this reminds us that “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:13.
There is no hope of the poor sinner improving himself, any more than the leper. Yet in this hopeless condition he is a candidate for the mercy of God.
The presence of the Lord Jesus as Son of God in this world is the light that lays bare the evil of our hearts. Yet He gives the soul both repentance and faith — grace to own our lost defiled condition, but faith to look to Him alone as Saviour of such as we. If I heed God’s word I will cease to deny or excuse my sins, but will frankly confess my ruin and own that I am “unclean.” The poor Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28 was brought by grace to own this simple truth and was blessed beyond all her hopes. So it will be for the unsaved reader if he will but learn from the story of the leper his own true condition bore God and cast himself upon His mercy.
The rest of the chapter has to do with leprosy in a garment, or skin which served the same purpose. Leprosy might betray itself in one’s external circumstances, for garments speak of associations and surroundings. Our ways may display more than our words and one’s surroundings tell where the heart is. Our habits will reveal the taint of sin when it is there.
Like the leprous garment which had to be burned, so any position or association which is defiling and which continually robs our souls of Christ, should be given up completely, no matter what it costs us.
If after the garment had been washed, the leprous spot was changed, then the spot was to be torn out and the garment could be used again. This would show that if we apply the Word of God to what we are going on with, and being cleansed from the defilement, we may be able to continue there with God.
Some of the things in school and business life are very defiling, but a Christian does not have to do them. He can apply the Word of God to the circumstances and refuse, even if he has to suffer for it. Like the garment with a piece torn out, there is a loss, but it is far better than allowing the whole thing to become leprous and the Lord will make it up a thousand fold.
Memory Verse: “WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU.” Exodus 12:13.
ML-02/27/1972