February 25

Dusting off the Old Books

Leviticus 14 What we have in this passage is a glimpse of the first seminary training. Now if you think it is boring to read about this, just think about learning how to do it. I am sure there was a class in seminary called Leprosy 101, and the most frequent question in that class was, “why do we have to learn all this stuff.” No one was ever healed from leprosy.

Think about the procedures they would have to go through...
1. Take an hour walk and go outside the camp. The tabernacle was at the center of the community.
2. Give the person a physical.
3. Put in an order at Costco for 2 live birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn and some hyssop (a branch)
4. Kill one bird over a clay pot
5. Take the remaining live bird and dip it in the blood with the wood, yarn and hyssop
6. Sprinkle the person 7 times and pronounce them clean
7. Release the bird.
8. Then go to the laundromat and clean his clothes
9. Shave his hair ... we are talking all the hair!!
10. Have him take a bath at the Desert Day Spa
11. Have him camp outside for 7 days.
12. Bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old with some flour and oil and one log of oil
13. Sacrifice one lamb as a guilt offering
14. Wave the offering before God
15. The other lamb is offered as a sin offering
16. Put blood on the lobe of the right ear
17. Then take oil and sprinkle it 7 times
18. Put oil on the right ear, the big toe of the right foot and on the head.

That is an elaborate ceremony!!!. As far as we know there were only two people cured on leprosy in the OT, one was Miriam and the other was General Naaman in 2 Kings 5. So the seminary guys learn this stuff and then their notes sit in their libraries for decades without use.
One day, many centuries later, there is a knock on the temple door. The person on the other side says, “I have been healed of leprosy.” All of a sudden the priests start scrambling around looking for the notes from that class. The next day 3 more appear. Then next week 10 guys show up. The priests start asking, “How were you healed?” The name Jesus comes up every time. I believe God put this in the law to give the priests in Jesus’ time overwhelming evidence that he was the Messiah.
In Matthew 8:4 Then Jesus said to a guy healed of leprosy, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
Wow, what a plan to show the world that Jesus is the Messiah.

Even in Leviticus 14, God has drawn up a plan to show the world the uniqueness of his one and only son. Do you appreciate the signs given by God to point us to Jesus? He is the Messiah.