Leviticus 13 - Sin will keep God away from us

Leprosy is a chronic disease that is infectious. It appears as a scaly lesion and causes discoloration of the skin. The lesion would affect the peripheral nerves, meaning nerves that are outside of the brain and the spinal cord, of a person who had contracted leprosy. It also affects the inner soft membrane of the nose, throat, and eyes. Once those affected nerves are destroyed there would be a loss of sensation. When that happens, tissues surrounding it would degenerate. Leprosy often leads to a victim’s extremities being eroded or deformed. It is regarded as contagious and incurable and can lead to disfigurement. Lepers were ostracised because they were regarded as unclean. The Bible uses it to symbolize the sin nature.

Leviticus 13 and 14 are complementary chapters. The former chapter describes the various skin lesions that define leprosy. The latter chapter shows how a healed leper could be restored in relationship and fellowship with God. Without chapter 14, the character of a gracious God would be questioned. Hence these two chapters are often read together.

In Leviticus 13 the instruction of the Lord to Moses and Aaron was intended to help them look at different skin lesions and to determine whether a person had contracted leprosy or not. This long laborious chapter describes the different kinds of skin lesion that would be considered as leprosy. We shall not take the time to define each of the lesion that constituted leprosy. But suffice to say that verses 45-46 define what a leper must do. We are told that his “clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” A key reason why leprosy is so talked about in the Bible is that it provides an explicit image of the damaging power of sin. It’s a powerful object lesson of the devastating impact of sin in a person’s life.

How God regards leprosy should be the way we view sin. Sin is offensive to a pure and holy God. Like a leper that needs to be cleansed of leprosy, we need to be rid of our sin so that we can come before a pure God. It behooves us, therefore, to walk circumspectly before God. Let us constantly deal with our besetting sin and keep a short account with Him.