Leviticus 13:1-46

hey hey good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this for every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2023 Lord willing will make from Genesis through Leviticus I'm so glad to be with you today when we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into God's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for your word we thank you for the joy and the blessing it is to get to come to you please God help us to read and understand your word in Jesus's name amen all right so we are at Leviticus chapter 13 it's the beginning of the leprosy laws and so we're going to talk more about that just as a way of introduction um leprosy as we know it not actually known in the ancient near East most likely I think there's as I was reading through some commentaries and thinking about this there's one uh instance in an Assyrian text that describe something that might be like hand sense disease leprosy but this is just a generic term right um the scaly skin disease is what most of this is going to talk about and uh the word leprosy that's used here is coming from the Greek from hypocras you've heard of the Hippocratic Oath before he termed or coin the term uh lepra which is a generic skin problem and so just keep it in your mind that there's there's Christian movies and stuff that totally equate Hansen's Disease what we think of leprosy today but as we read through these we're going to see it's not actually the case it's more like Skelly diseases and rashes and stuff like that so anyways uh Leviticus chapter 13 here we go the Lord said to Moses and Aaron saying when a man has on the skin of his body a swelling a scab or a bright spot and it becomes on the skin of his body like a lepos sore then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or one of his sons the priest all right so if you find this you got to go to a priest right remember Leviticus chapter 10 this is why they couldn't drink because they had to be able to look at people's bodies and say clean or unclean food clean or unclean the priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body and if the hair on the soore has turned white and the soore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body it is a lepus sore then the priest shall examine him and pronounce him unclean right so here's clear test gone down beneath the skin unclean all right Verses 4 through six is kind of like okay it's indeterminate so we're going to call it clean if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body and does not appear to be deeper than the skin and it's it hair has not turned white then the priest shall isolate the one who has uh who has the swore for seven days and the priest shall examine him on the seventh day and indeed if the sword sore appears to be as it was and the sore has no has not spread on the skin then the priot isolate him another seven days on the then the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day and indeed if the sword swar has faded and the S and the sword has not spread on the skin and the priest shall pronounce him clean it is only a scab and he shall wash his clothes and be clean right it goes into this period of quarantine 7 Days 7 Days okay nope it's going away great you're clean all right verses seven and 8 if those quarantines happen though and then comes back then you get a problem if the scab should at all spread over the skin after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing he shall be seen by the priest again and if the priest sees the scab has indeed spread on the skin and the priest shall pronounce him unclean it is leprosy right so if it comes back and it starts spreading you're unclean all right now uh that that's kind of like the first set of tests now in verses 9 through 17 we have severe skin problems that are kind of clear cases for the priests when the lepris sore is on a person then he shall be brought to the priest and the priest shall examine him and indeed if the swelling on the skin is white and it has turned the hair white and there is a spot of raw flesh in the swelling it is an old leprosy on the skin of the body the priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall isolate him for he is unclean if the leprosy breaks out all over the skin and the leprosy covers all the skin on the one who has the soore from his head to his foot whatever the pr who wherever the priest looks then the priest shall consider and in indeed if the leprosy has covered all his body he shall pronounce him clean who has the sword if it if it has all turned white he is clean but when raw flesh appears on him he shall be unclean and when the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him un to be unclean for the raw flesh is unclean it is leprosy or if the raw flesh changes and turns white again he shall come to the priest and the priest shall examine him and indeed if the sore has turned white then the priest shall pronounce him clean who has the sore he is clean right so if it's the question is is it like going down into the skin and is it oozing or is it kind of scabbing over what's going on they're going to determine whether or not the person is clean or unclean this is regarding ritual Holiness this is regarding ritual cleanliness laws this is not necessarily a moral issue but it is state of what what's going on with your body all verses uh 18 through 23 we're going to talk about some boils if the body develops a boil in the skin and it is healed and in the place of the boil there comes a white swelling or bright spot reddish white then it shall be shown to the priest and if when the priest sees it it indeed appears deeper than the skin and his hair has turned white the priest shall pronounce him unclean it is lepur which has broken out of the boil but if the priest examines it and indeed there are no white hairs in it and it is not deeper than the skin but has faded then the priest shall isolate him 7even days and if it should at all spread over the skin then the priest shall pronounce him unclean it is a leprosa Sur but if the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread it is the scar of the boil and the priest shall pronounce him clean so what happens if you get a boil and you're an Israelite well does it spread does it pop open it scab over it depends on what happens most of the time you're probably going to be okay you're going to be clean but if it starts spreading over your skin or it gets Oozy and and right there might be a time of temporary uncleanness all right verses 24 through 28 is about Burns or if the body receives a burn on its skin by fire and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot reddish white or white then the priest shall examine it and indeed if the hair of the bright spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin it is leprosy Broken Out In the burn therefore the priest pronounce him unclean it is a leprous sore but if the priest examines it and indeed there are no white hairs in the bright spot and it is not deeper than the skin but has faded then the priest shall isolate him seven days and the priest shall examine him on the seventh they if it has at all spread over the skin then the priest shall pronounce him unclean it is a lepus sore but if the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread on the skin but has faded it is a swelling from the burn the priest shall pronounce him unclean for it is the scar from the burn right so if you get burned what happens right I remember when I was in welding class my ninth grade year of high school I burnt my hand with the oxy acetylene torch and I mean I lost almost all the skin on my hand there was raw skin and I remember seeing white spots right where it had gone from almost to a third degree burn and I mean it was gross right so the question is is it going to heal or do you get a disease that starts spreading over your body maybe an infectious disease of some sort look at the hairs they there's a spot turned as the hair turn white things like this is what the priest is looking at to try to figure out thankfully I think they look at my hand and say it was clean now but maybe that's not the case for all burn victims okay verses 29 through 37 is about uh like itching diseases here we go if a man or woman has a sar on the head or on the beard then the priest shall examine the sore and indeed if it appears deeper than the skin and there is in it thin yellow hair then the priest shall pronounce him unclean it is a scaly leprosy of the head or beard but if the priest examines a scaly sore and indeed it does not appear deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it then the priest shall isolate the one who has the scale 7 days and on the seventh day the priest shall examine the sore and indeed if the scale has not spread and there is no yellow hair in it and the scale does not appear deeper than the skin he shall shave himself but the scale he shall not shave and the priest shall isolate the one who has the scale another seven days on the seventh day the priest shall examine the scale and if the scale has not spread over the skin and does not appear deeper than the skin then the priest shall pronounce him clean he shall wash his clothes and be clean but if the scale should at all spread over the skin after his cleansing then the priest shall examine him and indeed if the scale has spread over the skin the skin the priest shall not seek for yellow hair he is unclean but if the scale appears to be at a standstill and there is black hair growing up in it the scale has healed he is clean and the priest shall pronounce him clean right so again the main thing is whether or not this is spreading or going deeper into the skin what's going on here in the next section this is dealing with baldness 38 and 39 if a man or a woman has a bright spot on the skin of the body specifically white bright spots then the priest shall look and indeed if the bright spots on the skin of the body are dull white or sorry this this is what not baldness is next this is what some people call luoda then the priest shall look and indeed if the bright white spots on the skin of the body are D white uh it is a white spot that grows on the skin he is clean all right and then now this is baldness 40 through 44 as for the man whose hair has fallen from his head he is bald but he is clean he whose hair has fallen from his forehead he is bald on the forehead but he is clean and if there is on the bald head or bald forehead a reddish white soore it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead then the priest shall examine it and indeed if the swelling of the soore is reddish white on his bald head or on his bald forehead as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body he is a leprous man he is unclean the priest shall pronounce him unclean his SAR is on his head right it's not that Elisha was unclean it's just that he was bald some guys go bald because they go bald other people go bald uh because they get crusty stuff going on in their scalp right I think babies deal with this I forget what it's called but uh right when one one one of our kids was little just born they had really bad stuff going on in their hair we had to comb it out and comb it out and comb it out and I put different stuff on their their head because I mean we were worried they were going to go bald before they were you know 6 months old this it's part what happens right but the point is is sometimes it's an infectious disease sometimes it's it's not you don't really you got to figure out what's going on here all right but what happens if somebody is declared unclean verses 45 and 46 now the leper on whom the SAR is his clothes shall be torn and his head bear and he shall cover his mustache and cry oh unclean unclean he shall be unclean all the days he has the sore he shall be unclean he is unclean and he shall dwell alone his dwelling shall be outside the camp these are signs of mourning and of grief of sadness they're excluded from their friends taken away from their family removed from their homes no longer a part of the community not able to enter into the congregation or be near the temple in this case the Tabernacle totally removed torn close anytime they're around people crying out unclean unclean so nobody touches them and becomes unclean this the plight of the leper during this time and this is why they would cry out to Jesus for for cleansing we're going to we're going to see this time and time again when it comes to this but it was Jesus who touched the lepers he was not fearful of becoming unclean because he himself was holy and he tore down even this dividing wall between clean and unclean by healing them he didn't abgate the law actually as you see Jesus touch lepers and heal the lepers he would then tell them to go to the go to the temple go present yourselves to the priests and make the sacrifice make the purification rights that they've told you to but you've been suffering long enough that's what Jesus offers us right Jesus is the one who heals our diseases and cares for us includes Us in his Covenant Loves Us by his grace even though we are those who are unclean in spirit and not by ourselves worthy of redemption but he has come to us and loved us let's pray father we thank you so much for the finished work of Jesus Christ and for his cleansing us Lord we thank you that we do not have to dwell outside the camp but you have brought us in Father we pray that we would love those who suffer from different ailments and maladies that we would be those who would reach out and love those who might be ostracized from so Society because we might look at laws like this and think that they are unjust unloving but yet Lord many people are afraid to interact with people who seem to have diseases look different maybe even smell different and they need love Lord we pray that we would be those who would show the love of Jesus Christ father we thank you that you have taken away our mourning and given us joy in Jesus's name amen well may God bless you may his love wash over your heart and may you serve him all your days I'll see you next time bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website Sharon rc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10:00 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue Morning Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this [Music] week