Like Naaman the Syrian, you could be young, rich, powerful—but if a leper, it all meant nothing.
When word came to the priest that someone appeared to have been healed of leprosy, “the priest shall go out of the camp, and…examine him” (Lev 14:3). The priest must go to the person; they couldn’t yet come in. This reminds me of the sad plight of the whole human race, all hopelessly plagued by sin and far from God. Isaiah writes: “From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores” (Isa 1:6). But Christ, God’s special Priest, came to us where we were: “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10). He, “that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Heb 13:12), taking our place to bring us back to God. And what did Israel’s priest do then? “Indeed, if the leprosy is healed…then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop” (Lev 14:3-4). Let’s think about the cedar wood and hyssop first. To the Jews, these were the greatest and least of growing things. Solomon, the wise man, “spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall” (1 Ki 4:33). This reminds me of the New Covenant which Christ has provided for any sinner—from the least to the greatest—who is willing to come to Him: “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.…for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest…I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb 8:10-12). Salvation for all! In our next study, we’ll examine the two birds and how they illustrate the ultimate miracle!