Tag: Leviticus 15

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Discussions Torah

From isolation to community: The journey of restoration (Leviticus 14–15; 2Kings 7; Matthew 8; Luke 17; Isaiah 53; 1John 5)

Isolation to community: The journey of restoration (Leviticus 14-15; 2Kings 7; Matthew 8; Luke 17; Isaiah 53; 1John 5). Adobe AI-generated watercolor of 8 men looking away while one in the middle walks closer to the viewer.

The Torah’s cleansing process for “leprosy” in people and houses recorded in Torah reading מְּצֹרָע Metzora (“leper,” Leviticus 14–15) symbolized restoration, yet isolated the “unclean.” This study explores how Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) in Matthew 8 and Luke 17 inverted this process by providing immediate healing and instructing the restored to offer sacrifices, just as the Torah prescribed, yet welcoming all into God’s presence through faith in His atoning work. A similar lesson comes from an account in 2Kings 7 of four lepers.

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Torah readings

Torah reading Metzora (מצורע): Leviticus 14–15

Studies in Torah

A house with toxic mold can be a hidden chronic health hazard. And an unsightly discoloration of the skin could be the harbinger of a creeping killer, if not diagnosed properly and quickly. The physical necessities of dealing with such “leprosy” in body and stuff illustrate well the cancers of character that grow and consume, if left untreated.

The Torah reading, מְּצֹרָע Metzora (“leper,” Leviticus 14–15) reveals how entering the Presence of the Creator of Heaven and Earth requires cleanliness that’s more than skin-deep. That cleanup job is something that’s described in Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16) and reaches its reality in the death and resurrection of Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ).

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

‘He has carried our sicknesses’: Heaven’s prescription for a world that doesn’t know it’s ill (Leviticus 13–15)

'He has carried our sicknesses': Heaven's prescription for a world that doesn't know it's ill (Leviticus 13-15)

The human condition is often ugly and gross. Yet the Creator still wants to live among us. He wants to deliver us out of the grossness and corruption of our culture. Yeshua (Jesus) sat with sinners, but He didn’t sin with them. That’s the lesson behind all the icky instructions in the dual Torah reading Torah readings תַזְרִיעַ Tazria (“she will conceive”) and מְּצֹרָע Metzora (“leper”) covering Leviticus 12–15.

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Torah readings

Parashot Tazria/Metzora (Leviticus 12–15)

Studies in Torah

Why would God want newborns and their mothers to be purified shortly after birth? Why is God so concerned about leprosy amid instructions for living life differently from the rest of the world? If we stick with appearances, our understanding the heart of God will be only skin deep. That’s what’s between the lines of this week’s dual Torah reading, תזריע Tazria (“she will conceive”) and מְּצֹרָע Metzora (“leper”), covering Leviticus 12–15.

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Discussions Torah

How the Messiah breathes life into ‘the walking dead’ (Leviticus 12–15)

Birth and “the walking dead,” aka lepers. The two couldn’t be more different different. The first brings life into the world, and the latter is a mark of life that is headed out of the world. Yet in human body’s sometimes gross processes of fostering the new, we see similarities with the indeed gross processes that unravel the body, making it waste away.

The Torah readings תזריע Tazria (“she will conceive,” Leviticus 12–13) and מְּצֹרָע Metzora (“leper,” Leviticus 14–15) weave a thread of Heaven’s wisdom between the realms of life and death, showing us in stark imagery how Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) indeed is making this happen: “The last enemy that will be abolished is death” (1Corinthians 15:26–27 NASB).

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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 14-15: Don’t tell God what He can and can’t do. Just don’t.

How did God deal with those who slander Him personally? Can such a person receive a pardon? The Torah defines the unpardonable sin as speaking evil against God. How does one speak evil against God? When one says that there is something that God doesn’t have the strength and power to do, that is speaking […]

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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 12–15: Dishing and spreading the dirt is easy; preventing its spread is hard

A closeup view of Mycobacterium leprae bacteria inside human body. The bacteria causes Hansen's disease, aka leprosy. (COMPOSITE OF FREEIMAGES.COM/ANDRZEJ POBIEDZIŃSKI & RDMAG.COM/AP)

What does childbirth have to do with leprosy? Why do new mothers and babies need sin offerings? How is leprosy connected to gossip and slander? In this study of Leviticus 12–15, we will be taking a step up and a step back the topics discussed. Some of it is unsettling, and it is easy to lose ourselves in some of the more distasteful details, while forgetting the important life lessons the Holy One of Yisra’el is communicating to us.