Leviticus 13 and 14 describe the awful disease of leprosy and the remedy if one were to contract this affliction. Leprosy wasn’t just an issue in the Old Testament, it was also the scourge of Israel in the days of Jesus. Leprosy was and is still the foulest of diseases.
Today leprosy is known as Hansen’s disease, named after the man who discovered the causative agent of leprosy in 1873. Leprosy would cause spongy tumor-like swellings to grow on the face and body, and eventually effect the internal organs and cause the bones to deteriorate. If untreated, such as in ancient times, leprosy produced a weakness in the immune system, which made the victim vulnerable to other diseases. Leprosy was nearly incurable, and made its victims outcasts of society.
There’s more to leprosy than just an affliction of the body. Elsewhere in Scripture disease is representative of sin (Ps. 147:3; Isa. 1:5-6; Jer. 8:2; 30:12; Mk. 2:17). Leprosy’s outward symptoms indicated that this was more than just skin deep. Human behaviors indicate that sin isn’t just skin deep. In ancient times leprosy was highly contagious. Today, however, 90% of people are immune to the disease. Unlike leprosy, everyone has been infected with sin: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The prophet Jeremiah diagnosed man’s disease, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9).
It took a priest to declare a leper clean, and to administer the sacrifice (Lev. 14:1-57). Dear reader, Jesus Christ was the Priest that came to us, diagnosed our sinful condition, and became the sacrifice for all, declaring us clean!