For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.
Introduction
- 19 lepers are healed in the Bible, several in the OT and even more in the NT (though there's no healing of lepers in John and Acts).
- Leprosy (Hansen's Disease) can be cured, with multi-drug therapy -- and cheaply!
- The first leper in the Bible was Moses’s sister, though you could also argue it was Moses himself (Exod 4:6).
- In the case of 3 of our lepers, the person begins healthy, and then contracts leprosy suddenly, as a punishment for sin. That is not the normal order: when we meet the leper, he or she is already leprous, and then is healed.
Scriptural study: Numbers 12:1-15
- It seems Moses had taken a second wife, unless Zipporah wasn’t a full Midianite. Aaron and Miriam are miffed!
- Notice the jealousy. “And the Lord heard it.” Nothing we say, or even think, escapes God’s notice.
- V.3 is a hyperbolic statement. The point isn’t about how humble Moses was. It’s about the contrast between him and his older sister.
- The Lord sets up a four-way meeting.
- God’s anger was justified. Miriam should have been afraid to speak up.
- Yes, God had spoken through her. Technically, Miriam and Aaron were prophets, too.
- But it's not such a great comparison since God spoke face to face with Moses.
- Besides, Moses was humble -- in this instance he wasn't the problem.
- What was the real issue? Something else (Cushite wife -- they didn't like her)
- Punishment of leprosy (v9). How horrible!
- Notice that Aaron feels the punishment – When one part suffers, they all suffer. A close-knit family.
- Notice also the reversal of the normal chain of communication:
- Usually God speaks to Moses, and then Aaron relays that message to the people (Exod 7:1)
- But now it is Aaron speaking to Moses, who in turn beseeches God. Sin can cause all sorts of inversions.
- Though Miriam is punished
, Aaron is the one who seems to have a more humble attitude.
- Moses cares for her (“O God, please heal her—please.”) The text implies that Miriam was healed, though we do not read of this explicitly.
- Yet Miriam still has to go outside the camp. Uncleanness brings about a separation.
- There's no exception because she’s a big-time leader. One standard for all!
- The punishment is temporary, but it slows down the people of God.
- Our sin affects the body of Christ. It affects our relationships, and never more so than when there is ongoing sin in a leader’s life. His or her sin can affect the entire body.
Application
What can we learn? How does this relate to our lives—and our desire to be clean in the presence of God?
- Jealousy, rivalry, envy, resentment: let them never control our lives as God’s people!
- Guilty conscience: affects sleep and thus health.
- Bitterness and a critical can lead to changes in our physical appearance, our behavior (esp. in relationships) and how others perceive us.
- Usually sickness doesn’t indicate sin (John 9:1-2), but it may in some cases (psychosomatic connection). In Miriam’s case, it was a punishment.
- But the leprosy of Miriam also reflected the onset of spiritual decay and dysfunction that come from tolerating sin, including sinful attitudes.
- Inward focus: We don’t go out so much, get exercise. Nor do we want to be with people.
- Sin blunts our effectiveness as ambassadors of Christ.