06/04/2018
Leprosy
I.1. The priest's responsibility
None of the duties which the priest had to fulfill according to the Law of Moses demanded more patience than the finding and proper treatment of leprosy.
Two things demanded his vigilant solicitude: the purity of the assembly and the grace which could not admit the exclusion of a person, unless clearly determined motives. Holiness could not permit a man to be excluded to remain in the congregation; and on the other hand, grace did not want to put out whoever should be in it. This is why the priest needed vigilance, calm, wisdom, patience and a great deal of experience. Some things might seem of little importance, but they were really very serious and others might look like leprosy, but not at all. A judgment too hasty, a conclusion too prompt, could lead to the most serious consequences, either for the assembly or for the individual. This explains the frequent expressions such as: "The priest shall see," "the priest shall shut up for seven days the one with the wound; and the priest shall examine him on the seventh day. " "And the priest shall shut him up a second time seven days, and the priest shall examine him for the second time on the seventh day." We shall not judge or decide any case with haste. To form a holy judgment for each case, the priest should not be guided by his own thoughts, feelings, or wisdom. He had ample directions in the Word, he had only to submit to it. Every detail, every variation and every particular symptom - everything was planned with divine foresight, so that the priest had only to know the word well, and to conform to it in every way, to avoid thousands of errors.
Now consider the disease of leprosy developing on an individual, in a garment or in a house.
From a physical point of view, nothing could be more repulsive than this disease; and as it was quite incurable when it came to men, it offers a living and frightening picture of sin-sin in us, sin in our circumstances, and sin in an assembly.
I.2. Leprosy in a man
While the generative principles of leprosy and its purification apply, in a secondary sense, to every sinner, yet in the portion of the writing which concerns us, the subject is presented in relation to those who were the recognized people of God. The individual whom we see here subject to the examination of the priest belongs to the Assembly of God. It is good to understand that. The Assembly of God must be kept pure because it is his dwelling place. No l***r may dwell in the holy enclosure of the Lord's house.
Thus, the leprosy in the body of an individual represents the action of the evil or of what could appear bad in some member of the assembly. This is an important matter, which demands the greatest vigilance and solicitude on the part of those who have at heart the good of the souls and the glory of God. For he himself is interested in the well-being and purity of his assembly as a body and of each of those who compose it.
The priest had to be careful lest something that was not leprosy be treated as leprosy or that something that is really leprosy be tolerated - certain affections can appear in the skin as a leprous wound and after a careful investigation to be only superficial. A button appearing on the surface was not necessarily a stain. And yet what was only a superficial button could become something deeper than the skin.
There is a rich instruction for us. A distinction must be made between personal infirmities and the positive energy of evil, between the imperfections of conduct and the activity of sin. It is important to watch over our infirmities, because if we are not on our guard against them and if we do not examine them, they can be the source of a positive evil. See ...