The Leprosy: Indwelling Sin, Its Horrid Features
INDWELLING SIN — ITS HORRID FEATURES.
“FOE OCT OF THE BEABT PKOCEED EVIL TnOUGBTS, IfUBDERS, ADULTERIES, FORMICATIONS, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, BLASPHEMIES.” Matt. XT. 19.
Ver. 1.” And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying.**
Aaron is present as well as Moses on this occasion; for the priests were to be judges of leprosy. Hence, the high priest is one of the original receivers of these laws. Jehovah opens up sin under the figure of leprosy — sin, as an evil seen, and disgusting when seen; diA’usive as well as penetrating.
An Israelite would naturally turn his thoughts to this chapter when he read such language as Isa. i. 6^*^*^ The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.” In Isa. liii. 5, “Smitten of Gocf is connected with” stricken’’’ {^V^*y) as if the stroke of leprosy (?:3) were a direct infliction of God. The expressions of Psalm xxxviii. are borrowed in many things from the leprosy. Thus, “My wounds stink and are corrupty ver. 5.” My loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness in my flesh, ver. 7. And these verses are beyond doubt descriptions of the horrid features of sin. Job’s fearful disease was that more awful leprosy called elephantiasis.
It was a disease which man could never heal; and therefore our Lord manifested no less than Divine power and Godhead by healing the lepers as much as by raising the dead. To turn the pale, loathsome, putrid leper to all the beautiful vigor and health of a little child, was what only Grod could do — only the arm that could raise the mouldering carcass from the grave.
The pain of common leprosy is not vehement, but it keeps the man restless and sad. It is like sin in fallen man — the cause of his restlessness and sadness, the root of his unsatisfied desires; yet not itself felt keenly.
Leprosy is also corrosive, and penetrates unseen — almost unfelt — till it has wasted the substance: like sin in the soul, eating out its beauty and its very life, while outwardly the sinner hioves about as before. At length it bursts forth externally, too — the man becomes a skeleton, and a mass of noisome corruption. So does sin at length deface the whole image of God, and every faint vestige of comeliness that was left. And death is the sure end.
The Lord sent forth such a disease on earth after the Fall, to form it would seem, a type of sin. The workings of the leprosy seem appointed by him on very purpose to show forth sin in all its features.
Ver. 2. “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests.”
Here are three indications of leprosy begun: — 1. “A rising” or boil. 2. “A scab” or small tumor. 3. “A bright spot.” There is inquiry to be made into the slightest indications of the disease; if not prominent, as a boil or tumor, yet as a “bright spot” it may be there. Observe the first appearances of evil in your soul. Detect the leprosy by what you see in your heart’s desire, if not in your words, or in acts. It is said, that “Me bright spot” which indicates a leprosy begun, is often so small that it is like pustules made by the pricking of a pin; and so may be your first slight, passing wish, or half-curious look upon forbidden fruit.
It is known that one infected with this disease may live long; one born with it may live fifty years: one who got it by contagion, twenty years (Jahn’s Archseologie); and then in the end die suddenly, and leave the same awful disease to his children. It was thus with Adam; in him it began with no more than a small “bright spot” — yon fruit so fair, pleasant, to be desired. It then wrought in him all the 930 years of his lifetime — and he left it to us.
A special sin often resembles the beginning of leprosy; as for example, Noah’s drinking too freely of the wine that was the produce of the first grapes that grew on the new earth.
GENERAL RULES AS TO ALL THE THREE SVMPTO.MS.
Ver. 8. “And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, plague in sight be deeper than the kin of lm flesh, it is a of leprosy: and the priest shnll look on him, and pronounce unclean.”
Leprosy begins far within — in the bones and marrow and it is sometimes three or four years ere it come out to sight. (Jahn’s Archseol.) This typical view of sin we see realized in the case of the tender infant, who lies so innocent-like on the mother’s breast. Or, if we take the case of special sins, we see it in David, who seemed of all men the least likely to be guilty of adultery and murder on the day when he sang Psalm xxxvi. or Psalm xxxii. Or in Hazael, when he honestly exclaimed, “Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?” (2 Kings viii. 13.)
If the hair was turned white, and the plague evidently deeper than the skin,^^ then two things were evident, viz., that corruption was begun in the blood, and that it was not superficial. There was a tendency to decay, and a tendency in this decay to advance inwards. Were it a mere external deformity, there might be little alarm felt; but not so when there are tokens that decay is begun near the seat of life. By this the Lord taught Israel that mere acts of sin would not be so alarming, were it not that they’indicated evil in purpose and feeling — a sinful nature — deep-seated depravity within.
The priest was to examine and pronounce him unclean. Our Priest, Jesus, has eyes of fire to discern sin in his people. He detects its first risings. We ought to be of the same mind with our Priest, as anxious as He ‘to detect sin. For it is not as Judge, but as Priest that he lays it bare to our view. These eyes of flame belong to our Priest (see Rev. i. 14) when he visits his golden candlesticks. And so we may willingly submit to have our filthiness brought to light, when One standeth by who is ready that very moment to cleanse it away. Oh! there is sweet comfort in the words, “The priest shall pronounce him unclean!” To be completely convicted of sin casts us completely into the hands of that High Priest, who does not drive us from the sanctuary, but fits us for its holy services. The deep convictions which his Holy Spirit works are meant to direct the eye of tho unclean* to the cleansing Priest. Our High Priest sends the Spirit to the sinner, and the Spirit sends the sinner to the High Priest. “So,” says one, “when the Prodigal had spent all, and was famishing with hunger, the blessing came.”
THE BRIGHT SPOT.
Vers. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. “If the bright spot be white in tho ekin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the privst shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: And the priest shall look on him Uie seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and tho plague spread not in the skin; then the priest ihall shut him up seven days more: And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, iK-liold, if the phigue be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is but a scab: and 1kp hhall wash his clotties, and be clc»n. But if the scab spread much abroad in thfe skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then e priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy.”
If no proof appeared of deep-seated corruption (which is meant by its being “i» the skin,’’^ and “no whiteness in the hair”) it was not a leprosy; but until it be ascertained that there is none such, the man must be kept apart from others seven days. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” The six days of his confinement might be expected to be a season wherein the disease would take a turn; God had appointed that period of probation.
God taught Israel that lie is not in ha.ste to condemn.
J “He is slow to anger.” Time is afforded for full proof. He allows the sinner a long day, during which the man’s leprosy is plainly manifested. He allows the fallen world its six days — its 6000 years — during which time no judgment is pronounced on it. He waits for the seventh day, when the priest, who has examined already into the case, shall come and see the “shut up” leper, and declare his doom. “God hath concluded them all in unbelief,” said Paul, in Rom. xi. 32. The original is, “hath shut them up together” (awe-Aeias), and seems to be borrowed from this case of the leper. And so in Gal. iii. 22, “The Scripture hath concluded” — shut up together — “all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to*them that believe.” The whole world is allowed time to prove itself sinful — utterly sinful; and then the priest comes and deals with them, either for their cleansing, or for their eternal exclusion from the camp!
If in the leprous-looking spot, there was no spreading’ of the disease (ver. 5), — this was so far well. Corruption is stayed, or else never was begun. Such a man is to have the trial of six days, and on the seventh to be examined. And if, on the seventh day, there is proof that there is no spreadiiiP(ver. 6) of the plague, and that the hair is darker than it was, the man is set free. Now, here we have the case of souls pardoned — God’s company of pardoned ones, whom he treats for 6000 years in the way of probation. They show that the disease has been stayed — pardon has brought in a new principle of holiness. They are not to be excluded from the camp on the seventh day. The staying of the leprosy in the soul — the ceasing from sin — proves that there has been forgiveness of sin. If the lower waters of Jordan are ever getting shallower, then the upper waters must have been cut off.
But if, after an apparent healing, the scab spread (ver. 7), then the man is a leper after all. Is this not typical of him who, after appearing to be one of the justified, returns to his old sins? True, believers have a scab remaining — they have remnants of corruptions; but if this scab — these remnants of corruptions — spread over the soul, is not the man an unforgiven man? This is not opposed to the doctrine of perseverance to the end, any more than are Christ’s words, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.” (John XV. 6.) It is speaking to us according to external appearance.
THE RISING.
Vers. 9, 10, 11. “When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; and the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh; and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean.”
“When there is a rising, or tumor, which has the skin white, and the hair in it white, and quick raw flesh also in the swelling, then there is W doubt of the disease being there. “It is a leprosy grown old (rsii-) in c skin.” Not only the flower has died, but also the very soil in which it grew. (Prooopius apud Patrick.) These symptoms put the case beyond doubt. Treat the man, then, as unclean.
Here we see that the discovery of inward corruption is the strongest reason that can occur for at once pronouncing the man unclean. It is stronger far than any abundance of external maiTis. And so in God’s view,
the existence of corruption in the heart is far worse than all its effects on the life. The fact that the sinner’s soul is long ago corrupt — that it is infected by a leprosy that is grown old — that it inherits depravity and enmity to God, — this aggravates the sinner’s awful state. On bringing out this to light, the judge at once may say, ““What need we any further witnesses?” The white rising and the white hair, and the quick raw flesh are traced back to a deep-seated disease within that manifests itself in these forms; so, the foolish talk, the giddy conduct, and the worldly heart are traced back to their source, viz., a nature totally depraved. The proof is complete. The sinner is utterly lost. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” Let him take his true position — out of the camp — among the unclean!
VerB. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 1*7. “And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean; for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed into white, he shall come unto the priest; and the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean.”
Some think a reference is made to this verse (ver. 12) in Isaiah i. 5, “/row the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it.” If there be, the reference is to the entireness of the outward, visible spread of corruption in the land, in Isaiah’s days.
At first sight it seems strange, to ordain that the man should be reckoned clean, if the leprosy were out upon him, and covered him wholly. Tbe reason, however, may be, first, naturally; secondly, moral. If natural; then it is either because the leprosy is not so infectious when it has thus come all out on the body, the hard dry scurf not being likely to spread infection, whereas the ichor of raw flesh would have this effect; or, because it really is not a proper leprosy if it so come out — it is a salt humor cast out by the strength of the man’s constitution, and is not deep-seated. It is rather a relief to the constitution; even as when measles or small-pox come out to the surface of the body, recovery is hopeful. If it was for a moral reason; then it seems meant to teach that the Lord has a deep abhorrence of a corrupt nature — deeper far than merely of corrupt actions. We are ever ready to take home the guilt of evil deeds, but to palliate the evil of a depraved heart. But the Lord reverses the case. His severest judgment is reserved for inward depravity. He hates Sodom’s lewdness and open vice; but he hates yet more Bethsaida’s heart of unbelief wherein, as on a couch, all Sodom’s vice could softly repose within ita inner chamber. And yet more. Is it not when a soul is fully sensible of entire corruption, as Isa. i. 5, that salvation is nearest? A complete Saviour for a complete sinner?
If there appeared any raw flesh,’’’’ then, the man is unclean. For this indicates inward disease — not on the surface only. It is working into the flesh.
But if the raw fleslC turn and bo changed into white,^^ then it is plain that the disease is not gone inwards; it is playing on the skin only. Let him stand, therefore, as clean.
Perhaps, the case of & pardoned man may be referred to again in this type. His iniquity comes all out to view.
when it is thrown into the fountain opened; and the inner source of it is checked. The seat of corruption has been removed. But if, after the appearance of pardon, the man turn aside to folly (if “raw flesh” appear), he is to be counted unclean. If, however, this turning aside to folly be checked, if this backsliding be healed, then it is like the “raw flesh” turning “into white” — it evidences that his nature is sound — it has not returned to its state of thorough depravity.
THE BOIL. -t — Vers. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. “The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed, and in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish,* and it bo showed to the priest: and if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce liini unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil. But if the priest look on it, and behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark: then the priest shall shut him up seven days: and if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burningf boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.”
Old ulcers were to be carefully watched, lest they became means of the infection more easily insinuating itself into the person. If the healed ulcer have any mark like a white rising or bright spot, wherein the hair is turned white, then corruption is at work below the skin. As in former cases, however, if there was no sign apparent of its spreading, there must be seven days, proba-
* rllS “exceedingly shining,” the inflammation being very red, or glistening so as to be even like snow. (Patrick.) Hence ver. 24, “reddish or white.”
f RosenmuUer from the Arabic root of rSIS renders it, “it is the mark of a boil;” and so the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Syriaction. The spreading would show that the blood waa much vitiated.
Israel were thus taught to watch against new sins, after old ones were healed; or, more especially, the danger of coming near infection after being once delivered from the vicious atmosphere. Pardoned men must be iealous men. “Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass away.”
It taught, also, that marks, or remnants of former sins, may remain, though the leprosy be not there. Remains of an old peevish temper, of a proud, haughty demeanor, of a hasty judgment, of a taste for some earthly things, may exist in a pardoned man. They are remnants — scars — of an old wound. But if these indicate a tendency to spread, or show that they are “deeper than the skin,” then the leprosy is there — the man, in spite of other appearances, is really an unforgiven, unsaved man.
THE HOT BURNING.
Vers. 24, 26, 26, 27, 28. “Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that bumeth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white; then tle priest shall luck upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it ia the plague of leprosy. But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days; and the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the akin, then the priest hall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation* of the burning.”
“Mark of the burning” as at ver. 28. And so vewL 10 and 26, nno
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For ver. 24 see note on ver. 19, The meaning of the expression “hot burnings” is rather obscure. Some think it was an erysipelas; others that it was a hurt caused by the falling of some hot iron on the spot. The rules to be observed in examining it are the same as above. God is still the same holy, jealous God, but also the same long-suffering God — waiting calmly till the sin be undoubted, not swift to take advantage of mere symptoms. 0! how ungodlike it is “to make a man an offender for a word!”
We seem, also, to be taught another lesson here, viz., that in all keen suffering there is a tendency to sin. In all diseases that made the flesh raw, there was a tendency to leprosy. A time of suffering, of whatever sort be the suffering, should be a time of vigilance on our part, lest it end in sin. Many things provoke, many things gall and irritate, many things tend to make us selfish, and so to lead us to forget God.
Again: the staying of the symptoms was to be taken favorably. In this we see our God again — ready to forgive. If Ahab put on sackcloth, then the Lord turns away from immediate vengeance. If Nineveh repent, and “the bright spot is somewhat dark,” then the Lord pronounces them clean. If Ephesus lose her “first love,” there is a “bright spot;” but as yet there is no “white hair on the bright spot,” and possibly it may not be “lower than the skin;” therefore, Ephesus is shut up seven days, with the warning, “Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thoa repent.” (Rev. ii. 5.)
is rendered by RosenmuUer from the Syric “a mark.” And Onkeloe in the Targum has rendered it so.
DISEASE IN THE HEAD, OR IN THE BEARD.
Vers. 20, 80, 81, 82, 88, 34. “If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or beard, then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in night deeper than the skin, and there be in it a yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it b a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seren days: and in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague; and, behold, if the scald spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin, he shall be shav«n, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more: and in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall; and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.”
Leprosy might begin, not only in the skin, but even under the hair of the head, or in the beard. Sin may originate in most unlooked-for ways and places, and must be watched against everywhere. The head and the beard are the proper seat of honor, or of what is seemly and lovely to look upon. When the- hair became” yellow,’’’’ corruption was at work, changing the bushy hair into lank tufts, and the healthy color into a yellow paleness. Herein the change of external aspect, produced by sin, is declared.
But as it was possible that the hair might really be drawing its nourishment from the vitality of the body, notwithstanding this unfavorable symptom, there is to be caution shown. The inner parts may be sound; this may be only a soall on the head, and not a leprosy.
Again we. see the character of our God. 1. How holy is he! The first rising of evil is watched and» pointed at with hatred. 2. How lovingr is he! He deals most criAPTEK XIII. 265
tenderly with the suspected man. 3. How just is he! It must be noonday clearness ere he pronounces sentence; all doubt is gone!
Vers. 35, 36, 37. “But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean. But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is a black hair grown up wherein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.”
The examination is never allowed to go into other hands than the priest’s, whose skill, and experience, and compassion fitted him best for the work. Oh, how sweet to know that “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son,” (John v. 22.) He leaves us to be judged by no new standard, but just by that same standard whereby Jesus judged when on earth. Therefore, we may be assured that for every sin that the Judge will bring to light in us, there is a remedy in the blood of his own atonement.
The unchecked spread of the disease proves him a leper. So does the unchecked flow of sin prove a man a child of hell! you need not to insist on “the yellow hair” — the outward indications — if the man’s heart be as before, he is unclean! “For he that is born of God sinneth not.”
We have a God ready to bless! If the “hair be black,” and “the scall at a stay” — the conduct changed and the heart cleansed — then there is no waiting, no suspense of seven days; but, on the contrary immediate, acquittal. No man, who was clean, was to be kept in uncertainty of his cleanness; and no man, when cleansed from every symptom, to be detained in a probationary state. We see the very features of the Lord’s merciful haste to the sinner. Immediate pardon — full and present assurance — restoration to his love and favor on the spot — liberty that hour.
FRECKLED SPOTS NOT LEPROSY.
Vers. 88, 39. “If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots, then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their fleuh be darkish white, it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean.”
These spots might be only a cutaneous eruption; but they were grounds of suspicion, because leprosy often begins in this form. But spots so small, not altering the color of the hair, appearing only on the neck and face, are only the sign of what they call” Bochak’’ an eruption that passed away soon.
The Lord as carefully guards against imputing to a man more than is due, as against letting a man escape from what is his due. He holds the balance even. “A God of truth and without iniquity” — he goeth neither to the right hand nor left.
BALDNESS.
Vers. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44. “And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, be is bald; yet is he clean. And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of bin head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or bis bald forehead. Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; he is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his bead.”
The falling off of hair from the forehead indicated some decay; yet it might not be any more than on the surface. The Great Physician knows what are not indioations of deep corruption, as well as what are. Ceasing from some busy undertaking may, at one time, be no proof of any real decay of inward love; whereas, at other times, it may be the outward discovery of what was long going on within secretly. When the disciples all fled, this was “the hair of the forehearC decayed; yet still there was no “white, reddish sore.” When, however, the many, in John vi. 66, went back and walked no more with Jesus, this falling off of hair that looked fair before, brought into view the leprosy that had been working its way behind this concealment. When John Mark left Paul and Barnabas, there was a call for the physician examining. Paul suspected a hidden leprosy. It turned out that there was none. When Simon Magus offered money to Peter, “his bald head and forehead” too plainly revealed “the rising of the sore, white, reddish.”
Vers. 45, 46. “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry. Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone ;* without the camp shall his habitation be.”
The leper, in this state of declared uncleanness, is the awful type of a sinner under sentence of wrath.
His” clothes are to be rent,^^f just as in all cases of
* The Septuagint here use the expression, “Kexo)pt<riicvos xaBriacTai” Thorough separation from other men may be the thing expressed. So, when Jesus is said to have been “Ks’^piiTiievos dro riov a/jiapTcoXoiv” (Heb. vii. 26), as thorough a separation as this here is meant — only men are the lepers. He is the Untainted One.
f The word Qn-iS, is “ripped up — seamed;” perhaps as a sign that the passages of death were opened. Death enters by these rent seams, and the curse follows it. “He in whose flesh evil prevails is preparing sorrow for himself, and bringing himself, in his wilfulness, into the condition of a mourner.” (Dealings of God with the Leprous Man; — tract.)
mourniDg and woe. This indicated that the leper was now exposed to the full view of God and man in his stte of decay and corruption. His “head bare’’ also. All coverings are stript oft, as in the case of one mourning for the dead. For the leper was counted as dead in his flesh; as we read in Num. xii. 12, when Miriam’s leprosy was prayed for, “Let her not be as one dead; of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.” So, also, he “covers his upper lip’’’’ — another token of woe. His mouth is regarded as shut; he cannot speak to men any longer, only through the shroud comes the half-suppressed cry,” Unclean, unclean.’’^ The pale, ghastly face — the covering spread up to the sunk and hollow eyes — the unsightly form mufllcd up from view to hide corruption and putrifying sores — all conveyed the idea of one already out off” from the number of living men, lingering at the gates of death and hanging about its door-posts, impatient for entrance there. He is forced to dwell alone, “as those who have long been dead;” permitted to come only within sight of the camp, but not to enter; tantalized by seeing afar off” the happy tents of healthy, holy Israel. He sita without,* in mourning and sadness, pining away in his woe — every vein in every limb running down with putrid blood, his head sick and pained, his countenance disgusting the onlooker by the sallow hue of death, his mind filled with sad remembrances and gloomy imaginations. A gray blister, indicating the rising boil, now and then spots his temples; the hair hangs dry, lank, and sapless on his
* Psalm Ixxxriii. 4, is to be thus understood: — “Free,’’ ia •’idEn, the peculiarly appropriate term for one “set apart as a leper.” It is used of Uzziah. llieD, “Among the dead;” like one dead, as we see above in the leper’s case.
brow; the nails of his bony fingers are discolored and tainted. He moves his body slowly, tottering along on feet that are nearly powerless, and men “hide their faces from him” (Isa. liii. 3) as he draws near. Even the wild Arab, that scours past on his swift steed, starts at the loathsome spectacle and hastens away. The leper himself feels life ebbing slowly; the blood still flows, but it is not with the freedom of health, and the arteries have no longer their fall floods, like rushing torrents, but are clogged with thick, clammy, sluggish, moisture.
Here is the state of the sinner, not in the second death, but in this world, in his exclusion from the Lord’s presence, and dead in sin. The inner man has lost every principle of holiness; his powers are withered, every sinew shrunk. Any attempts at spiritual motions are slow and lifeless. Streams of putrid impurity burst forth in his soul. His eye has none of the brightness of one gazing on a holy God and a reconciled countenance, but indicates an absence of all that can really cheer or delight. The death-like hue of the whole form proclaims the total departure of the breath of God and the Divine nature. From such a soul, God turns away his face. Nor can the sinner pretend to any fellowship with the saints, or any right to a place in the camp of Israel. Often he sees their joy; he is present in their solemnities, and looks on from afar, and feels his misery deepened by the contrast of these happy multitudes. His own conscience compels him to cry, “Unclean, unclean.”
Such was Isaiah’s experience for a time, when, with no more than the remnants and remembrance of his leprosy, he entered the holy sanctuary above. Such is every convinced soul’s experience in the day of the Spirit’s dealing with it; when the High Priest has begun his treatment of the sin-sick soul, compelling it to uncover its head and rend its garment, and, with lips covered up, to take the position of one exposed to death and curse.
Yet all this is but the shadow of death. Convictions here, and fears and terrors here, are only faint shadows. Death itself — the second death — which casts this shadow, is behind. And then the leprous soul is eternally loathsome, eternally abhorred, eternally dead and corrupt, eternally excluded from the fellowship of saints, eternally hid from the face of God, and eternally within hearing and sight of happy Israel, though there is a gulf that cannot be passed, between I And none will or can offer sympathy to the eternally exiled man!
Oh, leprous soul, a High Priest passes through thy country now, who could deliver thee from thy diseases. Come, come, though thou hast sat alone under thy juniper-tree, apart from men, these many, many days! Come, though in vain thou hast hitherto looked for any abatement of thy disease! Perhaps no man ever cared for thy soul? Perhaps thou hast looked on the right hand, and there was no man that would know thee? Perhaps it is long since refuge failed thee? But a High Priest is in the land, who can deliver thee. He takes thee as thoU art; he pronounces thee as thou really art, “Unclean, unclean /” and then he stoops down and says, “Look unto me and be saved .^” He passes by; he walks on the outside of the city, where the lepers are sitting, wistfully looking in through its gates, yet not daring to enter; he will soon enter in, and shut its everlasting gates! Invite him near; nay, he is near. “He it is that talketh with thee I” He has blood that cleanses from all sin. His touch is healing; his look is life! But if once in hell, thou art forever and forever miserable. No balm in Gilead is there; no tidings of a leaf of the healing tree! The High Priest that can deliver never passes through that cursed land. Leprosy is eternal there; and therefore wailing and woe never end. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!”
LEPROSY IN GARMENTS.
Vers. 47, 48.” The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp, or woof, of linen, or of woollen: whether in a skin, or
in anything made of skin.”
This leprosy in garments is to represent something quite different from leprosy in the man himself. It is to be a type of sin and defilement, not in his person, but in the things around him. Anything round about the man is this garment; the circumstances in the midst of which he is placed, the business he engages in, the comforts that impart a warmth to his person, the occurrences that affect his daily feeling. When Jude (ver. 23) speak a of “the garment spotted by the flesh,” he evidently means the person’s external contact with the world around him; and when the few names in Sardis are commended because “they have not defiled their garments’’’ (Rev. iii. 4), reference is made to the allurements and sinful habits of all around them.
A clothes-leprosy and house-leprosy may have existed then, though it does not now; just like the case of the demoniacs, in the time of our Lord. And the plague that was called leprosy in garments, was co-relative to that disease in the human subject. It is like (as observed by others) the application of the term “cawcer,” to a disease in trees, and of” rot to a disease among sheep
As the skin of the leper is fretted away, so there is a mode in which garments may be affected analogous to this — when vermin or animalcute settle secretly in the garment, and fret away the threads. Mich’aelis mentions, what is called dead-wool,’’^ that is, wool of sheep that died by disease; and it is found to be bad, losing the points, and ready to be settled in by vermin. Cloth made of it soon becomes very bare, and then full of holes. Such is the literal circumstance from which the type is taken. Learn, reader, to wear no garment that is exposed to corrosive influences. Frequent no company that has Sifretling leprosy — unsound at heart, and commiAieating its unsoundness to you. “Withdraw from the wells of Esek and Sitnah (Gen. xxvi. 20, 21), like Isaac, when you feel that there is evil in the situation, and the men who are there. If much prosperity is apt to make you settle on your lees, like Israel (Deut. viii. 11) when they had eaten to the full, and walked among their countless flocks, and heaped up silver and gold — then, shake the garment; beware of Atheism; “beware that thou forget not the Lord thy Grod.”
It was of little consequence how goodly the garment appeared. Bo not deceived by a fair show. Whether the garment was wrought of material got from the animal creation {’* wool”), or from the vegetable world (” linen”); or whether it was composed of a mixture of threads, those in the warp being of wool, those in the woof of linen or flax; nay, though it were a strong garment of skin, or of some manufacture of skin* — whether of simple, primeval strength and roughness, or fashioned into a finer texture — still, if there was the least ground
* nijf PSsblS; “work — manufacture of skio.”
/ for suspicion, it must be subject to instant examination, however costly and however esteemed for comfort. You must not judge of the innocuous nature of an employment or a possession by its appearance only, nor by its suitableness to your taste, nor by the estimation in which it is held; you must be prepared to admit examination.
Vers. 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 67, 58, 59 “And if* the plague bo greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be showed unto the priest: and the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days: and he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, ii or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a ,% fretting leprosy; it is unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment, -whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or anything of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the ■woof, or in anything of skin; then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more: and the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his color, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without.f And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the -washing of it, then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof: and if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that
* “And if.” Connect this verse with verse 47,” The garment, if there
be in it and if the plague be greenish.” The Hebrew is so,
“•^ y’! ‘’^ and ‘^^’7’) The word for greenish is P’^P’^’?, intense green; such as is seen in the wings of a peaoock, or leaf of a palm-tree. (Maimonides apud Patr.)
f RosenmuUer renders this rightly. It is a fretting leprosy, whether on the left side of the cloth (the bare side), or on the right side (the shaggy side) — whether on one side or other.
wherein the plague is with iire. And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shall wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed ttts second time, and shall be clean. This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or anything of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.”
A garment really infected must be burnt. There must be a final forsaking of every real sin. “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off;” or if not, “thou goest to hell fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is. not quenched.”
So hateful to God is every approach to sin. Therefore, even on suspicion of evil, examine anxiously. If there be even suspicion as to a garment, the priest shuts it up — lays it by. So you give over the company you are afraid has an injurious influence on you; you give up the meats about which you are in doubt (Rom. xiv. 15), or about which your brother is in doubt. If you can really rend out the spotted part, this is well. David’s pride of heart when he numbered the people, must be rent from him by the sharp stroke that cut off 70,000 threads of life. Hezekiah’s pride must be rent off by the sword that is to destroy his people, and carry his wealth to Babylon. Peter’s self-confidence must be torn from him, by his being placed among the other disciples in abasement; “Lovest thou me viore than these?”
If, however, again the plague break out, the garment is no doubt deeply spoiled. It is to be burnt. Thus, when Israel’s plenty and security — their garment of beauty and confidence — led them to indulgence and sin, the Lord rent off the pieces. But when, at last, the same sin ever returned, then he cast them away into an enemy’s land.
But, lastly, if the garment out of which the piece was rent, be found remaining clean, then “let it be tvashed a second timeJ^ Let Peter, after his recovery from his fall, be warned once more, to impress the special need he has of securing himself against the temptation in time to come. There is to be no doubtful holiness with God. He requires in his people definite and distinct purity. He likes us to make much use of His Holy Spirit, so that our freedom from the world’s snares and the world’s maxims may be plain to every eye. Oh, how holy is our God! How holy in himself! His heart has no other than holuness as its feeling. And when his eye looks abroad on us, it is holiness it searches for. He seeks for holiness in our person, and holiness in our circumstances — a holy people moving amid holiness! Hence it was that when Isaiah was enjoying a truly divine and heavenly gaze of the Lord of Glory, he perceived at once that both the person and his circumstances ought to be holy before such a God. He felt not only “Woe is me because I am a man of unclean lips;” but even had he been himself holy and pure, still, before such a God, how distressing the thought, “I dwell among a people of unclean lips!” Alas! alas! I am a leper myself — “Unclean, unclean!” and my garments have the fretting leprosy also! I dwell among the unclean!
There remains yet the mention of an unclean earth. That subject is taken up, chap. xiv. 33. But it is not mixed up with the person and his garments, because these two may be clean, while still the earth remains unpurified. There is to be a cleansing of our persons and of our circumstances now; but not a cleansing of the land or of its properties till an after period. And, to show this the more, observe that the laws about the
12 “’ person and his garment came into full operation while they wandered in the desert. But those laws that concerned the land — typical of the earth — 6& not come into operation till they reached Canaan. See chap. xiv. 34,” When ye be come into the land of Canaan.” We are journeying onward to a pure land, to a new earth; but, meantime, we are carefully to see that our persons and circumstances be pure. No sight is more peculiar, and perhaps more attractive to the eye of angels and of God, than holiness in full bloom, though springing up from the soil of a cursed earth J Such a magnificent plant, with such waste sands, and barren clay, and rocky soil all around! This recalls the image of the Son of Man, when in Nazareth “he grew up before him as a tender plant!”
Oh, seek to be holy in heart and life, in circumstances and situation! Breathe holiness from within, and breathe holiness on all around! Send a fragrant gale of holiness along the wild desert; it may slacken the pace of some weary, miserable wanderer, as the spices breathed from “Araby the blessed” delay the ship that passes by. Send up the incense of holiness to the Lord, giving him back his own; and let it be known above that the Spirit who goeth to and fro in all the earth, striving with men, has found a dwelling-place in some souls, and has begun to create a heaven below!