We must constantly be on guard for the tell-tale signs of sin’s effect in ourselves and those we love.
Ninety-six times in Leviticus chapters 11-15, the word unclean is used. Thankfully, its opposite, clean, which is God’s objective, also occurs 49 times. This was the desire of the man “full of leprosy” who met Jesus “and implored Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean’” (Lk 5:12). Jesus’ response? “He put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately the leprosy left him” (v 13). There is no question about the Lord wanting His people to be clean! But leprosy was a terrible thing. It brought defilement to a person. It also brought deadening to the nerves of the body. It brought damage to the extremities, affecting one’s walk and work. It brought distancing to relationships, cutting the sufferer off from his friends and family. And ultimately, of course, it brought death. It’s not difficult to see the correlation between this and the effects of sin, is it! This increasingly dangerous situation is the reason we are told 15 times in chapter 13 that the priest must examine the person carefully to diagnose the condition. Notice that the one- or two-week quarantine of the patient to observe any changes would rule out Hansen’s Disease because it is so slow in developing. But in this case, the priest was looking for clues: if the lesion was depressed, if there was raw flesh, if the hair had changed color, if the sores had spread over a week or two, or if there was a whitening of the skin. God gave all the possible combinations to determine if the patient was leprous or not. How careful God was in protecting His children! And how protective we must be of our children and grandchildren in this evil day. It’s a full-time job overseeing friends, video games, phones, and internet use, for starters.