THE LEPER MESSIAH

Mark 1:40

  And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."

The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called leprosy. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18–59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4–8).

On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Ritual contamination and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting.

Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called lashon harah which literally means the evil tongue. The term refers to gossip and slander because after slandering Moses, her brother and divinely appointed leader of Israel, Miriam was afflicted by this leprosy (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity are irrelevant today because they technically only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time.

At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would ignore the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fear of defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where he met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7).

The Talmud tells of one called, The Leper Messiah. It presents a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come and by what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because he might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is:  ‘The Leper Scholar’.

Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of his days who stayed away, Yeshua came to us and voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He even contaminated himself by touching our leprosy. While were still in our mortal decaying condition, he entered our house to fellowship with us. But the story doesn't end here; the most wonderful part of it is that as he goes back to his Father and our God, he takes us with him to partake of his pure resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

IDOLATRY TODAY

1 Corinthians 8:4

…  "an idol has no real existence,"…

When Israel made the Golden Calf, they were not transferring their worship of Hashem to that of another deity. In their mind, they were still worshipping Adonai, albeit in a syncretized version. A literal translation of what Moses says in Exodus 32:4 reads: "this is your God Israel who brought you out of Egypt". They thought they could worship Adonai by the medium of something familiar, in this case the calf. Contrary to the claimed deities of the day, being the Creator of all things, the God of Abraham did not want to be represented through the mere medium of one His creations.

Let's look at idolatry in religion today. While the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church are a mixed bowl of ancient Jewish Messianism and their respective pagan cultures, Western Protestantism seems to have has adopted a form of religion that is very reminiscent to Hellenic ascetism and transcendentalism, along with an anti-Biblical materialism philosophy that over glorifies independence, wealth, and prosperity over the virtues of generosity, humility, and a submissive spirit.

There is also a form idolatry that empowers words of affirmation, astral bodies, and geometric shapes, through fear and acknowledgment. Hashem indeed created all languages, geometry, and the astral bodies, all in order to glorify Him (Revelations 4:11); that is why the enemy is intent on high-jacking creation for his own purposes. Witches today center their worship around new moons, and call some of their feast days ‘Sabbaths’. Does it mean that we should stop obeying God’s commandment to sanctify the new moon and remember the Sabbath just because the devil perverted these things (Numbers 29:6; Exodus 20:8)? Should we stop recognizing God’s Holy Days just because pagans also have special days (Colossians 2:16)? In the Bible God used a brazen snake on a pole to heal His people. They were told if they just gaze at it they will live. Several hundred years later, a Judean King Josiah had to destroy it because people had made it an object of worship (Numbers 21:8; 2 Kings 18:4).  

As a French-born naturalized American, as long as I am on American soil the laws of France cannot affect me. In the same manner, when we renounce allegiance to the enemy, as long as we remain on spiritual God’s territory, none of the devil’s trinkets have power over us. Idols, astral bodies, and geometric shapes only have the power we allot them through fear or ignorance.

Judaism teaches that when we use an element of creation for the glory of God we capture it from the hands of the enemy to the glory of God. Wood can make an idol, but also an Ark to house a Torah scroll. Metal can make money, the love of which is the source of all evil, but it also can be fashioned into a head piece to crown the King of Kings. Mathematics, Geometry, physics and astronomy are all related as sciences proving God’s ownership of creation.

It is high time we recapture God’s creation and give it back to him, along with our own hearts, minds, souls, and spirits.

A DESERT JOURNEY

Proverbs 13:16
Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge:
But a fool layeth open his folly.

As walking through a maze inlaid with dangerous inlets and outlets, so is our walk through life in this world, but the Word warns us of pitfalls. If we are to arrive at destination, we are to walk prudently, meaning, in the knowledge of the Word.

Baal Shem Tov, a seventeenth century sage one day said, “The forty-two ‘stations’ from Egypt to the Promised Land are replayed in the life of every individual Jew, as his soul journeys from its descent to earth at birth to its return to its source.” The Torah also mentions that God orchestrated the desert wondering of the Children of Israel to test them; to know what was in their heart, whether they would obey or not.

The desert journey revealed many temptations. There were temptations to murmur; temptations to complain; temptations to disobey; temptations with idolatry; temptations with impatience; temptations with rebellion; you name there it was. Our lives in this world seem to be full of the same temptations. As it was with the Children of Israel, our destiny is decided by the how we respond to these tests.

The prudent, acts in harmony with his knowledge of the Word, thus displaying wisdom.

The foolish acts ignorantly of it, thus spreading to all the depraved fruits of his ignorance.

Up to the second half of the twentieth century, not everyone could learn to read. Only the financially privileged or those who worked very hard could afford an education; illiteracy kept people from reading and studying the Word for themselves. Today, even though most people read and can therefore avail themselves of the knowledge in the Word, the devil found another way to keep them away from It: distraction. We are so distracted by life, by its social demands and its constant broadcast of vanity, that even though knowledge and wisdom are readily available to us, and often free for the getting, we are today more ignorant of the good advice in the Word than when people couldn’t read.

As a result, few are prudent, many are foolish.

May we not be guilty of this.

Let us lay our priorities straight; spend our time wisely and in the study of the Word that can save our soul and bring our heart to its Promised Land destination.