The Leper Messiah
Why does the Talmud refer to the Messiah as “The Leper?” What does the Messiah have in common with a leper?
Artistic impression of suffering and exile. (Image © First Fruits of Zion)
In one cryptic passage from the Talmud, the sages discuss different theories about the potential name of the Messiah. Several schools of disciples offer different opinions. Each one has a theory about what the name of the Messiah will be. After the Talmud offers the list of opinions, it presents an authoritative ruling of the sages. The Messiah will be called “the Leper of the House of Rabbi,” a strange name indeed for the promised Savior King:
And the rabbis say: “His name is The Leper … as it is said [in Isaiah 53:4], ‘Surely our sicknesses he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.’” (b.Sanhedrin 98b)
A word association between the leper and the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 involves the Hebrew verb nega (נגע) which means to “smite.” The Torah refers to the condition of leprosy with the noun form of the same word which means plague, smiting, and affliction. The Talmud quotes Isaiah 53:4 where Isaiah uses the same word to describe the affliction of the suffering servant:
Surely our sicknesses (nagua, נגוע) He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)
On the basis of these associations, the sages referred to the suffering Messiah son of Joseph as “The Leper.” The Messiah son of Joseph carries the suffering of the exile and the punishment of the Jewish people like a leper carries his affliction.
The sages understood the verse to mean that Messiah took on the nation’s leprosy, not literally, but figuratively. The title “Leper Messiah” sounds like a deprecation, and it contradicts the Bible’s own description of the Messiah: “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isaiah 52:13). The Bible indicates that the Messiah will be the wisest of all men, exalted above Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and even the angels. His stature will exceed that of all the great men and kings of the earth.
Therefore, Chassidic teaching concludes that the Talmud hints toward some deeper meaning when it refers to the Messiah as “The Leper.” It indicates that the redeemer suffers the agonies and afflictions of Israel’s exile. He impatiently waits for the final redemption when He can purify the nation, but until then, He personally suffers the pain of Israel’s leprous-like affliction, the agony of the ongoing exile.
For as long as the exile persists, the Messiah is called The Leper. He Himself is essentially pure and perfect. His affliction merely reflects the condition of exile. The “day of his purification” refers to the moment of the redemption, when Messiah will be revealed and His true person and righteousness will become manifest to all.
Leprosy in the Gospels
Why is leprosy associated with uncleanness, and why was the healing of lepers such a central concern in the ministry of the Master?
Graveyard — Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash
The symptoms described in the Torah that might potentially be diagnosed as biblical leprosy involve decomposition, decay, and putrefaction—corruption of the flesh. The laws of the sacrifices teach that God’s Sanctuary shuns death, corruption, and decay.
God’s Sanctuary represents immortality and incorruptibility. In His presence, there is no death, no decay, and no decomposition. Therefore, He bans from His Sanctuary the disease that represents a living decomposition. Leprosy involves an ongoing, visible progression toward physical corruption. It is the antithesis of the immortal and incorruptible world represented in God’s Sanctuary.
Leprosy also acts as an archetype for all human sickness. Sickness results from the breakdown of the flesh. Death follows. Leprosy graphically represents that progression.
Sickness, death, and decay have no
place in God’s presence. His Sanctuary on earth reflects that heavenly
Sanctuary.
Yeshua provides the solution to the leprosy problem. Spiritually, He did not
suffer the leprosy-like infection of sin. Physically, His flesh did not suffer
corruption: “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your
Holy One to undergo decay.” Through His resurrection from the dead, His flesh
passed from the mortal to the immortal and from the corruptible to the
incorruptible. His resurrected body remains real human flesh, regenerated into
an imperishable spiritual body. Therefore, He is the perfect, eternal priest, able
to serve forever in the incorruptible Sanctuary.
Perhaps this helps explain why the healing of lepers occupied such a central concern in the ministry of the Master. Not only did He heal many lepers Himself, but He gave His twelve disciples authority to heal leprosy as evidence of the kingdom of heaven. Leprosy symbolizes the sin-laden human condition, destined for death and decay. Each time the Master healed a leper, it betokened a reversal of that corrupted, mortal state. Every leper healed of his affliction was a testimony that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Yeshua the Messiah our Master! (Romans 7:24-25)
The Imperishable
The holy Temple and all the sacrifices that take place in it point toward immortality and incorruptibility. The sacrifices are not about death; they are all about life.
An illustration of the
Tabernacle in the wilderness. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
In 1 Corinthians 15:53, Paul speaks of the resurrection, saying, “This perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” As a Pharisee and a follower of Yeshua from Nazareth, Paul firmly believed in the physical resurrection of the dead. He looked forward to that day when our failing mortal flesh will be transformed into an immortal state.
The laws of sacrifice allude to the transformation from mortality to immortality and from corruption to incorruptibility. In Leviticus 7:16-18, the LORD commands that the meats of the sacrificial service are not to remain beyond the third day:
But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it may be eaten; but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. (Leviticus 7:16-17)
A person who offered a peace offering needed to eat the meat of the sacrifice within two days. One who ate of a sacrifice from the altar on the third day or later invalidated the sacrifice. Eating of the peace offering on the third day incurred the penalty of excision. The person was to be “cut off.” Three days after the slaughter, the meat began to turn rancid. As an earthly reflection of the heavenly dwelling place of God, the Sanctuary naturally shuns death and mortal corruption.
Though the sacrificial system requires the death of the sacrifice, it avoids the decomposition of the sacrificial meats. Better that the meat be burned than decompose. The same striving toward incorruptibility explains why all the sacrifices were salted, as Leviticus 2:13 says, “With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” Salt functioned as a preservative. The same striving toward incorruptibility explains why the construction of the Tabernacle used only the resinous shittim wood. Like cedar wood, shittim resisted decay.
The Tabernacle and its services symbolize immortality. The sacrifices and the Tabernacle worship point toward life, the imperishable world, and the worship of the Immortal One.
The peace offerings allude to the Master’s resurrection on the third day. The Master rose on the third day, as Scripture says of Him, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay.” The mortal body of Yeshua did not undergo decay. In this regard, the worship system of the Tabernacle foreshadows our transformation in Messiah. Through the resurrection in Messiah, human bodies will be changed from corruptible to incorruptible: “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him” (Hosea 6:2). We will pass from the mortal to the immortal:
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:53-55)
Wellspring of Evil
The Torah portion seems
obsessed with diagnosing and cleansing leprosy. Why is the Torah is so worried
about tumors, scabs, spots, and rashes?
Photo by Naveen Prajapat on Unsplash
As the average Bible-reader dutifully slogs through the laws concerning biblical leprosy, he might wonder what this has to do with him, and why the Torah spends so much time on the details of this disease. Unless you are a son of Aaron serving in the Levitical priesthood, the laws of diagnosing and purifying lepers don't have much application. The average person will never be responsible for distinguishing between one type of rash and another for purposes of declaring someone ritually unfit.
Nevertheless, the laws of biblical leprosy have spiritual applications. Traditionally, the rabbis have used these laws to teach about the grievous sin of evil speech (lashon hara, לשון הרע).
What is it that makes a leper so unique that the Torah says [in Leviticus 13:46], "He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp"? His gossiping separated a husband from his wife and a man from his neighbor. Therefore said the Torah said, "He shall live alone." (b.Arachin 16b)
The association between evil speech and leprosy is derived from the story of Miriam's leprosy (Numbers 12). Miriam was punished with leprosy for grumbling against her brother Moses. The sages inferred from this that biblical leprosy was a punishment for the sin of an evil tongue. Given that piece of information, the laws of the leper (metzora) became fertile ground for homiletic teachings about the sin of evil speech. The rabbis gave moral interpretations for the Torah's regulations for assessing leprosy and the laws for effecting purification.
For example, the sages taught that the word metzora (leper) is derived from a combination of the Hebrew words motzi (מוציא), which means "wellspring" or "source," and the Hebrew word ra (רע), which means "evil." Put them together and it spells the word "leper" (metzora, מצורע)— sort of. It's not a real etymology. The word metzora actually comes from the Hebrew word for leprosy (tzara'at, צרעת). The "wellspring of evil" explanation is meant as a illustrative reminder.
What is the source from which evil springs? It is the tongue! Therefore, one who speaks evil is a spiritual metzora. James the brother of Yeshua probably knew this interpretation. He alludes to it in his epistle where he compares the tongue to a wellspring:
From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? (James 3:10-11)
The Bronze Serpent
How did the serpent on the pole heal the people?
Moses and the Brazen
Serpent (Image: Via Wikimedia Commons, by Fidelio Bruni, Russian Painter, 1840)
The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:6)
The problem with complaining is that God is listening. He hears our words and weighs our hearts. As the Israelites complained about the daily provision of manna, God heard their words and sent a punishment of poisonous snakes. Why did God use snakes to punish Israel?
Rashi explains that God chose snakes for two reasons. The serpent in the Garden of Eden was punished for speaking words of slander against God. God sent the serpent, who was punished for speaking slander, to punish those who were guilty of speaking slander. The second reason was that the serpent had been cursed to eat dust all the days of its life. God sent the serpent, who was punished by being given a diet of dust, to punish those who complained about their food.
When we allow ourselves to slip into self-pity and we give expression to a critical spirit, we are already victims of the evil one. He is a professional slanderer, the accuser of the brethren and the origin of rebellion against God. He was the very first to express discontentment with the lot in life God had assigned to him. When we show ingratitude toward God and complain about His ways, we are speaking the serpent's native tongue. His venom is already poisoning our hearts.
The solution to the problem is repentance. The Israelites went to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us" (Numbers 21:7). Their words encapsulate the gospel message. Yeshua is our Moses. The serpent is the devil. We are the sinners. If we want to be healed and delivered from the serpent, we need to repent, confess our sins and seek forgiveness through Yeshua.
As soon as the Israelites asked Moses for forgiveness, he interceded on their behalf. Rashi points to this as an example for how we should also be quick to forgive others. He says, “From this we learn that a person who is asked for forgiveness should not be so cruel as to withhold forgiveness.” Disciples worthy of Yeshua will be quick to extend forgiveness even to those who have spoken derisively against them or humiliated them.
Moses interceded, and the LORD instructed him to make a bronze serpent. He was to set it atop a pole. When those who were suffering the effects of the venom looked at the serpent, they were cured. “If a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived” (Numbers 21:9).
How did the serpent on the pole heal the people? The sages explain that it was faith in God and obedience to His command that resulted in miraculous healing, not any magical property of the bronze serpent:
Did the bronze serpent kill or give life? [Of course not.] Rather, when the people of Israel lifted up their eyes [toward heaven] and submitted to their Father in heaven, they were healed. If not, however, they would pine away. (m.Rosh HaShanah 3:8)
A House of Leprosy
Do you live in a spiritually leprous house? The Torah suggests that the walls of our homes absorb the spiritual energy created by gossip and evil speech.
The Torah describes the ceremonial procedure for diagnosing and cleansing a home in which signs of biblical leprosy have appeared on the walls (Leviticus 14:33-53). Mold and mildew are not uncommon on interior walls. It can be a real problem in Israel during the rainy winter season. Mold and mildew, however, do not necessarily constitute biblical leprosy. Not every form of mold and mildew is leprous.
As with the man who suspected he had contracted leprosy, the priest was to make an examination and diagnosis of the house. If the priest diagnosed the mildew problem as biblical leprosy, he declared the home ritually unfit. You may have mold and mildew problems in your house, and they may present you with health risks, but you don't need to worry about them being biblical leprosy unless a descendant of Aaron serving in the priesthood makes that assessment.
The procedure for purifying such a house is similar to the procedure for purifying the leper. In both cases, the ritual with the two birds, the cedar wood, crimson and hyssop are identical. Furthermore, the shaving of a leper's hair can be compared to the scraping of the plaster from an afflicted house.
In traditional Judaism, biblical leprosy is associated with the sins of evil speech, gossip and murmuring. The sages blame leprosy in a house on the words spoken within that house. Most of the evil speech we indulge in happens within the four walls of our own homes. Our spouses are our confidants as we unburden our hearts, blow off a little steam and lodge our complaints about others. This kind of murmuring seems innocuous. There are no victims. The words never leave the house, so what's the problem?
Actually, there is a victim. You are the victim. By indulging in critical speech, you are conditioning yourself to exercise a critical spirit. Day after day you are patterning your mind to concentrate on the shortcomings of others. Moreover, you are poisoning the other members of your household with the same increasing bitterness. One could say that the very walls of your house absorb the evil spiritual energy you are creating. The entire home becomes defiled.
The solution to the problem is to
break the habit. Make a pact with those in your home not to speak or tolerate
evil speech any longer. Scrape the infected spiritual plaster off the walls and
start with a fresh coat of optimism, grace and kindness. See if it freshens up
the place a bit.
The Man over the Congregation
The story of the
appointment of Joshue has obvious Messianic implications which point toward
another Joshua: Yeshua of Nazareth.
Moses Blesses Joshua Before the High Priest, as in Numbers 27:22, by James Tissot (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
The LORD told Moses that his time to die had drawn near. Moses did not object, but he expressed his concern for those he would leave behind. He implored, “Appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd” (Numbers 27:16-17). The LORD told him to lay hands on Joshua the son of Nun to designate him as his successor.
The mystics interpret Moses’ request as a prayer for the coming of the Messiah: “Moses our teacher asked for the kingdom of David and the Messiah—that he would come to be the redeemer and redeem Israel from the exile.”
From a Messianic Jewish perspective, the story has obvious Messianic implications that point toward Yeshua of Nazareth. The appointment of Yehoshua as “the man over the congregation” alludes to the appointment of his namesake, Yehoshua of Nazareth, the Messiah and King of Israel, the head over the assembly.
The LORD took some of the Spirit that rested on Moses and He bestowed it upon Joshua. This solved the problem temporarily. Joshua, however, was destined to die a generation later, leaving Israel like sheep without a shepherd once again. The petition of Moses, “Appoint a man over the congregation,” could not be fulfilled in perpetuity until God appointed a shepherd who would not succumb to death. Yeshua (who is named after Joshua) is the man that God has appointed over the congregation of Israel.
The term “man over the congregation” invokes several apostolic passages about the Messiah and His assembly. For example, Paul says, “The man is the head of the woman even as Messiah is the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:23). The English word “church” mistranslates the Greek word for “assembly” or “congregation.” “He is also head of the body, the congregation” (Colossians 1:18). Peter told the congregation of Israel assembled in the Temple that “Yeshua [is] the Messiah appointed for you” (Acts 3:20). He is “a Man whom [God] has appointed” (Acts 17:3) and “the One who has been appointed by God.” (Acts 10:42).
Moses appoints Joshua over Israel, foreshadowing the ultimate man appointed by God over the nation. Both Joshua and Yeshua serve as the successors of Moses who bring fulfillment to the promises of God.
Baptizo
Christian denominations divide over the question of how to conduct a baptism, but the New Testament hardly describes the procedure.
A typical newborn baby baptism by water. (Image © Bigstock/Antonio Gravante)
The New Testament tells several stories about people being baptized, but the stories do not spell out the details of how the baptism was accomplished. The apostolic writers thought that the method and procedure of baptism was so well known that they felt no compulsion to record any of the details of the ritual. Because the apostles were all Jews, they considered baptism to be a basic part of daily life which required no description.
Baptism was originally a Levitical purification rite. Most purification ceremonies, such as the purification after leprosy, require immersion into a mikvah. The Greek New Testament expresses immersion into the mikvah with the term baptizo (βαπτίζω), the word from which we derive the English term baptism. Leviticus 15 prescribes baptism as the mode of purification for a variety of ritual contaminations.
Baptism means different things to different forms of Christianity. Disagreements about the mode and meaning of baptism can be blamed, in part, on the New Testament’s scanty descriptions of the ritual. The apostles say very little about the mode, never explaining exactly how a person is to be baptized. They say a bit more about the symbolism, but they leave most of that as if it is already taken for granted.
A person needs to be ritually pure before he or she can enter the Sanctuary or eat of the sacrifices. At a minimum, purification from ritual uncleanness required a full-body immersion into mayim chayim (מים חיים): Living water, that is water collected from a natural source like a spring, a river, or rainwater, but not drawn from a cistern or well. A pool of living water is called a mikvah.
A person undergoing immersion descends into the mikvah (or river, or lake, or ocean, or whatever the case may be). The person immerses himself or herself by wading into chest-deep water and bending the knees to completely submerge himself or herself. The dunking is repeated two more times for a total of three consecutive dunks. A person who immersed himself in this manner washed away his ritual uncleanness.
All worshipers going up to the Temple underwent immersion before entering the holy place. Archaeology has unearthed the remains of many apostolic-era immersion facilities near the entrance to the Temple. These are the same immersion baths that Yeshua and His disciples used as they went up to the Temple when in Jerusalem. Archaeologists have found remains of apostolic-era immersion baths all over the land of Israel, and they consider the presence of a mikvah in an excavation as key evidence of a Jewish population.
All of this indicates that baptism was not a Christian invention or even an apostolic innovation. From the days of Moses, Jews regularly practiced ritual immersion. Anyone who became ritually unclean needed to undergo a baptism before he or she could enter the Temple or eat from the sacrifices. The priests immersed every day. After a woman completed her monthly cycle, she needed to immerse herself before she could rejoin her husband. Some pious Pharisees went beyond the letter of the law and attempted to maintain a constant state of ritual purity which necessitated regular, daily immersion.
The immersion ritual symbolizes death and resurrection. When a proselyte converts to Judaism to become legally Jewish, he passes through an immersion in the mikvah. His legal identity as a Gentile dies in the water of the mikvah, and the proselyte emerges from the mikvah reborn as a Jew. Likewise, John the Immerser employed immersion as the physical token of repentance. The penitent entering the water of the Jordan died to sin and emerged from the water reborn to a life of repentance and righteousness. Paul attached similar symbolism to the immersion in Messiah:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Messiah Yeshua have been baptized into His death? … Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Romans 6:3-7)
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