In Leviticus 11 we see that we need discernment in diet, discernment in eating; that is, we must be careful in what we contact and receive. In chapter twelve we see that human birth involves uncleanness, for we were born uncleanness. Now in chapter thirteen we come to the matter of leprosy.
Discernment in diet concerns what we should contact outwardly and what we should receive from the outside. Our birth in uncleanness, on the contrary, concerns not what we contact outwardly but what we are inwardly. We are uncleanness by birth. This uncleanness is something within us. We were born sinners. We did not become sinners by doing something sinful or by receiving something from outside of us that caused us to be changed in our disposition or in our constitution. No, we are sinners by birth. Whether we contact something clean or unclean, we are still sinners. Being a sinner has nothing to do with what we contact outwardly; rather, being a sinner is a matter of our birth.
It is difficult to analyze leprosy. We may say that leprosy originates from outside a person, that it is caused by the entering into a person of the germs of leprosy. We may also say that leprosy comes from within, since a person cannot develop leprosy unless the element of leprosy enters into his being to give rise to this disease. Leprosy, therefore, comprises both an outside factor and an inward effect. The cause is from the outside, but the effect is inward.
We need to consider three things: discernment in diet, human birth with its uncleanness, and leprosy. These three matters cover all our problems, and our living of a holy life has much to do with them. We need to ask ourselves about what we contact, about our birth, and about leprosy with its outward factor and inward effect. If we cannot solve the problems we have related to these things, it will be impossible for us to live a holy life. How can we live a holy life if we contact the wrong things, if we are persons born uncleanness, and if we are subject to an outward factor and an inward effect that make us leprous? It would be impossible. Can a leper live a holy life? Certainly not! In order to live a holy life, we must deal with our contact with things, with our birth, and with our leprous condition.
Leprosy (v. 2b) signifies the serious sin issuing from within man, such as willful sin, presumptuous sin, and opposing God with determination (cf. Miriam-Num. 12:1-10; Gehazi-2 Kings 5:20-27; and Uzziah-2 Chron. 26:16-21).
Leprosy does not actually begin from within a person; it begins from without, with some kind of germs or bacteria that get into a person’s being. Then the leprosy issues from within one’s being, as illustrated by three Old Testament cases-the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah.
Leprosy always comes from rebellion. Miriam rebelled against Moses, who was God’s deputy authority. Her rebellion had a cause, and the cause was Moses’ marrying a Cushite woman (Num. 12:1). As the result of her rebellion, Miriam became leprous (v. 10). Her leprosy came from her rebellion.
In 2 Kings 5:20-27 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, rebelled against Elisha’s practices. Elisha would not receive anything as a reward from Naaman, a Gentile who was healed of leprosy. After Gehazi received gifts from the cleansed leper, Naaman’s leprosy was transferred to him. Gehazi also became leprous because of rebellion.
In 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 King Uzziah rebelled against God’s regulation concerning the priesthood. According to this regulation, the king could not participate in the priesthood. But Uzziah rebelled against this regulation, and as a result of his rebellion he became leprous. In each of these three cases, the leprosy first entered into the rebellious one and then issued from within that one.
According to the Old Testament, leprosy is the outcome of a certain cause, and that cause is rebellion against God’s authority, against God’s deputy authority, against God’s regulation, and against God’s economy. We all must admit that we have rebelled against God’s authority and against His deputy authority. Furthermore, we have often rebelled against God’s regulation. Finally, we have also rebelled against God’s entire economy. Therefore, in God’s eyes we all became leprous. Leprosy entered into us and then issued forth from within us.
Leprosy is sin. In the Bible the first case of sin was Satan’s rebellion. Satan rebelled against God, and that rebellion became the sin that is now in the universe. Before Satan’s rebellion there was not such a thing as sin. Sin was invented, not created, by the rebellious archangel Lucifer.
Sin is actually leprosy. The denotation of sin in the biblical sense is rebellion. Sin, therefore, is rebellion against God, against God’s representative, or deputy, authority, and against God’s plan, arrangement, government, and administration. As a whole, sin is rebellion against God’s economy. This rebellion was invented, inaugurated, by Satan himself. Eventually, sin came into mankind. “Through one man sin entered into the world” (Rom. 5:12a). Having entered into man, this sin, this leprosy, now issues from within man. As a result, we are leprous. Whenever we do something against God, that thing is leprous. From this we can see that sin is a matter of leprosy. Leprosy signifies sin.
When the Lord Jesus came down from the mountain where He decreed the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens, the first thing He did was cleanse a leper (Matt. 8:1-4). This leper represents the fallen descendants of Adam, all of whom are lepers. The sin that was invented by Satan entered into mankind through Adam and made us all lepers. Leprosy now issues in many different kinds of sins, that is, in many expressions, manifestations, of rebellion.
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