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God established the Tabernacle as the key place for Heaven to come close to us and for us to come close to God. We read in the Torah section שמיני Shemini (Leviticus 9–11) about the massive failings of two of Aaron’s sons — Nadab and Abihu — who improperly approached God in Tabernacle’s Most Holy Place. We met these two sons earlier when they were among the elders who had the special meal with God on the mountain (Exodus 24). But later, they did not heed the warnings about who they were and their position in relation to the divine and paid a steep price for their presumption (Leviticus 10).
In the dual Torah readings תַזְרִיעַ Tazria (“she will conceive”) and מְּצֹרָע Metzora (“leper”) covering Leviticus 12–15, we see more lessons brought regarding how people in different stages of life prepare to approach the tabernacle or end up being excluded from approaching the temple, from people recovering from childbirth, to those who suffer from leprosy. The priests were the ones in charge of diagnosing any medical issues that might either temporarily or permanently exclude a person from entrance into the Tabernacle.
Even when the 1st century elders of Israel would dismissively ask Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) effectively “who put you in charge?” (Matt. 21:23; Mark 11:28; Luke 20:2), the fact that He “spoke with authority” they knew, even though they loathed to admit it, that He was the One in charge.
God can make those of us who may be leperous or brackish, clean and useful. Brackish water be used in some limited function but clean water can be used for many more things.
The issue is whether one is fit to approach God (טָהוֹר tahor (H2889), “clean”) or not (טָמֵא tameʾ(H2931), “unclean”). If you want to be where God is, one must submit to God’s instructions and be willing to “do the work” — turn around (repent) and be cleaned (forgiven) — to be ready for communion with God.
Diagnosis and quarantine: Discover what rots from the inside out (Leviticus 13–15)
However, the concept of cleaning up a house (or a person) for the purpose of diagnosing a disease and quarantining the sick was a radical concept in the Ancient world and even into the Middle Ages, those communities that understood God’s instructions regarding cleanliness and quarantining the sick weren’t affected as badly by the Black Plague as those communities that scoffed at cleanliness and quarantine.
When we read about the inspection of the house, the first thing they did was to remove all the furniture from the house to make it easier for the priest to diagnose the situation. We just went through a pandemic and the scientists developed clever ways to quarantine those who were not sick rather than quarantining the sick, getting it all backwards.
We can understand how humans contract communicable diseases, and we know how quarantine works or should work. But how does a house or a piece of furniture or an article of clothing get leprosy and what does that actually mean?
One clue is in the writing of the Apostle Peter, who told us that the House of God is built with “living stones” (1Pet. 2:4–5). The people of God are His house and if our outside is clean but our inside is dirty, what kind of house are we for God?
These guidelines are not only relevant for diagnosing and treating physical ailments, they can also apply to diagnosing and treating certain spiritual ailments as well.
We live in a world where many people are wiling to “love bomb” (i.e., accept and condone) people all the way to the kingdom of death (Rom. 1:32; 1Cor. 5:1–2). But we are called to love people into the Kingdom of Heaven. The world has a twisted definition of love, but we know Who love is.
Be kind: Remind
“Kindness” is a buzzword these days as a synonym for “nice.” Many believe that warning someone that they are on the wrong road is not kind. But this is a twisted because the greatest act of kindness is to gently warn someone when they are on the Highway to Hell, rather than the Stairway to Heaven (Lev. 19:17–18; Ezek. 3:18–21).
Using good manners or politeness as excuse to ignore difficult truths can send someone to their death. We can be “nice” by prioritizing our own comfort or the comfort of others over the truth. If we aren’t willing to tell someone the truth even if it makes us or the other person feel uncomfortable, our “niceness” is paving their way to eternal separation from God.
In modern parlance, kindness and niceness are synonyms, but they not the same thing. When we were young, sometimes our parents had to use anger as a tool to keep us from running out into traffic without awareness or to prevent us from touching a hot oven, not because they hated us but because they loved us. They didn’t want us crushed under the wheels of a car or seriously burned. If they had not expressed some anger and just exercised “niceness,” we might have died a painful death or at least suffered a terribly painful malady.
Resiliency in the face of adversity
We should not pray to God to avoid trials. Rather, we should pray to God for the wisdom to know that we are going through a trial and the wisdom to overcome our trials and learn from them.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:2–8 NASB
We call this process “resilience.” It is what we learn when we experience something very uncomfortable. Many here in Northern California experienced emotional trauma through several raging wildfires in recent years.
If our houses burn down, your friends’ houses burned down, or your whole neighborhood burns down, we lose a sense of comfort and security. For many who lost homes to the fires, all of that was stripped away. Many lost everything they owned, including family mementos, heirlooms, etc. You may have lost all sorts of connections with neighbors who lost their homes then moved out of the neighborhood or even out of the state because they could not afford to live here any longer. Mental health requests and inquiries have shot up astronomically in our area in the aftermath of all these fires.
Yet, when the Apostles suffered persecution, they were able to sing hymns and find joy in their suffering (Acts 16:23–25). They did not give in to despair, even in the most disgusting prisons, locked in stocks like animals. We shouldn’t ask for freedom from adversity, but the peace that passes all understanding to endure and mature though challenges.
A leprous lesson
Gehazi, Uzziah and Miriam profaned God’s name in the eyes of someone else. They misrepresented God in a profound way. All of them thought they were at a higher level but they were really trying to bring God down to their level.
Daniel Agee, Tazria 2016
Tzaraʿat has long been associated with gossip or what in Hebrew is called lashon ha-ra, or or literally, a “bad tongue,” Psa. 34:14; Lev. 19:16). Defamation or “spreading of a bad name, which is called motzi’ shem ra’ is even worse.
Lord of the Flies without the LORD (2Kings 1–7)
We see many examples of people who use a legitimate complaint and take their reforms too far and end up making things worse.
- 2Kings 1: Ahaziah king of Israel goes to inquire of Baal-zebub (“Lord of flies/dung”) if his window-dive injury would kill him. Eliyahu strikes down 150 “escorts” from the king.
- 2Kings 2: Elisha takes on Eliyahu’s אַדֶּרֶת adderet “majesty” (cloak) after Eliyahu is taken up. Elisha the bald rebukes mocking youths.
- 2Kings 3: Yehoram reforms Israel partly by getting rid of the pillar to the Ba’als in their temple in Samaria. But he retained the separatist “sins of Yeroboam … which made Israel sin.”
- 2Kings 4: Elisha extends a widow’s oil and proclaims fertility to a woman of Shunuam. Holdout prophets are saved from poisoning.
- 2Kings 5: Naaman is saved from metzorah by faith; Gehazi is cursed with it for faith in the material.
- 2Kings 6: Elisha floats an axehead and escapes an Aramean plot. Aram besieges Samaria, capital of Israel.
- 2Kings 7: Elisha promises food, but a royal officer doubts. Heaven uses four metzorah sufferers to save starving Samaria. Israel sees the salvation of the LORD
Jeroboam and the people of Israel had a legitimate grievance against Solomon, but Jeroboam, took that legitimate grievance and instead of exercising faith in God, Jeroboam created a false worship system for God, from setting up two golden calves at the extreme northern and southern regions of the nation. He also set up an entirely new religion calendar, under the guise of worshiping God but ignoring God’s instruction that Jerusalem would be his primary place of worship. God had promised Jeroboam a dynasty that would last along as King David’s but because of his lack of faith, and his treason against God, his dynasty came to ruin.
Later, King Yehoram diagnosed a part of the problem by destroying the pillar to the Ba’al in Samaria, but he did not completely quarantine and cleanse Israel of the apostasy started by his predecessor Jeroboam.
In 2Kings 5, at least the king was smart enough to know that diagnosing and treating Naaman’s leprosy was above his pay grade, and sent Naaman to the prophet Elisha to get the help he needed.
Naaman said, “If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules’ load of earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. “In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.” He said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him some distance.
2Kings 5:17–19 NASB
Elisha’s acknowledgment of Naaman fledgling faith is similar to what we read in Acts 15. Naaman, who has to return to his home, has to navigate for himself how to worship God in a place who doesn’t know Him at all. Naaman had to detox himself from any entanglements with false gods and demons to orient himself to the true God, and Elisha did not give Naaman a heavy burden but send him home in peace.
We have so much, with the Torah, the Prophets, the writings and the New Testament, which gives us structure, rules and standards to discern what is right and wrong.
The northern Kingdom of Israel before the Assyrian exile was almost all metzorah (“leprous,” infected). They had thrown out the Aaronic priesthood, they set up their own temples and worshiped false gods and presumed to worship God in ways He never asked to be worship. All they had were prophets to tell them what was true and what was false.
When God took all of our spiritual ancestors in Israel out of Egypt, He told them to make a clean break and leave everything that they learned in Egypt behind. Social contagion is real, and God knew it and He warned Israel repeatedly that they had to get rid of all the nation in the land who were corrupted by the most evil forms of false worship.
We have to open our eyes into those things within us that are sinful and corrupt and we also have to pray for those who don’t know their left hand from their right hand. We have to diagnose ourselves and quarantine what is evil away from us and kindly show others how to do the same.
Bow to ‘Leper Messiah,’ LORD of mercy
One of the titles of the Messiah in the writings of the Sages was “the Leper Messiah” because He would take on their affliction.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4 NASB
We see how Yeshua did that when He healed lepers and told them to present themselves to the priests so they could re-enter the community but also as a witness to them that there was someone who exercised authority over things that make people unclean and made them clean again.
The human condition is often ugly and gross. But the Creator wants to live among us. He wants to deliver us out of the grossness and corruption of our culture. Yeshua sat with sinners (Matt. 11:19; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30; 7:34); He didn’t sin with them (Heb. 4:15).
Summary: Tammy