When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest;
When the plague of leprosy is in a man, he is to be brought to the priest for examination under the laws regulating uncleanness and leprosy given to ancient Israel. Leprosy fittingly typifies sin as a terrible moral disease that is widespread, infectious, and humanly incurable, beginning within and corrupting the person and spreading pollution to others. The required cleansing was complete cleansing from an acknowledged incurable malady, no less a miracle than raising the dead, with physical uncleanness first made visibly clean to prepare for real cleansing with blood by which atonement is made through faith in Christ. The directions are also sanitary instruction about contagious disease that still stands at the head of sanitary law, to be followed and not abandoned.
Context and Required Procedure
Leviticus 13:9 belongs to the laws regulating uncleanness and leprosy given to ancient Israel. It is part of the law about leprosy and is included among the regulations for the Levitical sanctuary service, whose yearly cycle of service typified Christ's once-for-all ministry. When the plague of leprosy is in a man, he is to be brought to the priest for examination to identify and examine the suspected case. That bringing reflects the need for proper precautions in dealing with the disease.
Leprosy remained prevalent in the Holy Land as it had been in the time of Moses. The verse stands among the ecclesiastical laws and ceremonies of Leviticus 12-15, which repeat ceremonial instruction. Those chapters give food for thought and meditation, while the greater essentials for rapid reading are found in other chapters.
Leprosy Typifies Sin and Cleansing
Leprosy is a horrible disease that fittingly typifies sin as a terrible moral disease and as mortal sin. Like leprosy, sin is widespread, infectious, and humanly incurable, beginning within and corrupting the person. It never gets well by itself and is contagious, so the sinner contaminates the very atmosphere and introduces pollution where all before was comparative purity. His society leads others to sin through influence, giving more reason to fear sinful influence than to fear infection from a leper.
Sin is also rebellion against God's law. The picture of leprosy prefiguring sin shows sin as a dreadful disease for which pride must die if a person is to be healed and to enter God's kingdom. The verse belongs to the law of cleansing in which physical uncleanness must be removed first and the object made visibly clean, so to speak, to prepare it for its real cleansing with blood by which atonement is made and it is reconciled or cleansed.
The man brought to the priest was to experience complete cleansing from the acknowledged incurable malady, no less a miracle than raising the dead. That cleansing came by faith in the cleansing power of the Author of the ceremonies, so the rites show faith in Christ. The yearly cycle of that sanctuary service typified Christ's once-for-all ministry, and leprosy served as a sign of Christ's power to heal.
Sanitary Wisdom and Application
Leviticus 13:9 belongs to sanitary instructions about leprosy and other contagious or infectious diseases. The directions of the chapter concerning leprosy give especially good guidance for such diseases.
The laws of sanitation promulgated by Moses still stand at the head of sanitary law, above even the laws well understood and rigidly enforced by up-to-date physicians. This enduring superiority proves that divine inspiration guided Moses. The real value of observing such sanitary law is shown by the result in the Panama Canal Zone in August 1913, when there was no death from disease among the Americans. The instruction given to ancient Israel about uncleanness and cleansing is an example of cleansing that God's people should not abandon, and the lesson is to follow health reform and other cleansing truths so they may be prepared to receive the latter rain.
When the plague of leprosy is in a man, he is to be brought to the priest for examination under the laws regulating uncleanness and leprosy given to ancient Israel.
Leprosy fittingly typifies sin as a terrible moral disease that is widespread, infectious, and humanly incurable, beginning within and corrupting the person and spreading pollution to others.
The required cleansing was complete cleansing from an acknowledged incurable malady, no less a miracle than raising the dead, with physical uncleanness first made visibly clean to prepare for real cleansing with blood by which atonement is made through faith in Christ.
The directions are also sanitary instruction about contagious disease that still stands at the head of sanitary law, to be followed and not abandoned.
Context and Required Procedure
Leviticus 13:9 belongs to the laws regulating uncleanness and leprosy given to ancient Israel. It is part of the law about leprosy and is included among the regulations for the Levitical sanctuary service, whose yearly cycle of service typified Christ's once-for-all ministry. When the plague of leprosy is in a man, he is to be brought to the priest for examination to identify and examine the suspected case. That bringing reflects the need for proper precautions in dealing with the disease.
Leprosy remained prevalent in the Holy Land as it had been in the time of Moses. The verse stands among the ecclesiastical laws and ceremonies of Leviticus 12-15, which repeat ceremonial instruction. Those chapters give food for thought and meditation, while the greater essentials for rapid reading are found in other chapters.
Leprosy Typifies Sin and Cleansing
Leprosy is a horrible disease that fittingly typifies sin as a terrible moral disease and as mortal sin. Like leprosy, sin is widespread, infectious, and humanly incurable, beginning within and corrupting the person. It never gets well by itself and is contagious, so the sinner contaminates the very atmosphere and introduces pollution where all before was comparative purity. His society leads others to sin through influence, giving more reason to fear sinful influence than to fear infection from a leper.
Sin is also rebellion against God's law. The picture of leprosy prefiguring sin shows sin as a dreadful disease for which pride must die if a person is to be healed and to enter God's kingdom. The verse belongs to the law of cleansing in which physical uncleanness must be removed first and the object made visibly clean, so to speak, to prepare it for its real cleansing with blood by which atonement is made and it is reconciled or cleansed.
The man brought to the priest was to experience complete cleansing from the acknowledged incurable malady, no less a miracle than raising the dead. That cleansing came by faith in the cleansing power of the Author of the ceremonies, so the rites show faith in Christ. The yearly cycle of that sanctuary service typified Christ's once-for-all ministry, and leprosy served as a sign of Christ's power to heal.
Sanitary Wisdom and Application
Leviticus 13:9 belongs to sanitary instructions about leprosy and other contagious or infectious diseases. The directions of the chapter concerning leprosy give especially good guidance for such diseases.
The laws of sanitation promulgated by Moses still stand at the head of sanitary law, above even the laws well understood and rigidly enforced by up-to-date physicians. This enduring superiority proves that divine inspiration guided Moses. The real value of observing such sanitary law is shown by the result in the Panama Canal Zone in August 1913, when there was no death from disease among the Americans. The instruction given to ancient Israel about uncleanness and cleansing is an example of cleansing that God's people should not abandon, and the lesson is to follow health reform and other cleansing truths so they may be prepared to receive the latter rain.