Leprosy Deuteronomy 24 part2

Deuteronomy 24:8 "Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently and do according to all that the priest the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do."

You can go back to Leviticus 13 and 14 to read the original instructions referred to in this verse. I'd like to point out the saddest part of this disease as I see it. It is found in Leviticus 13:46 "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled: he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."

I heard a good sermon this weekend on this very subject at Eleventh Avenue Baptist Church
go to web cast and then the morning service of 12/30/07. It is well worth a listen.

In Matthew (the text of the above message) Jesus has compassion for one of these lepers. When the man came to Jesus, he showed his faith by telling Jesus he knew he could heal him if only he would. Here is the story:

"When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold there came a leper and worshipped him, saying Lord if thou will thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleaned."

Here is a disease for which there was no cure. The alternative was to separate the person from the rest of the congregation to prevent it's spread. It was a hopeless life and one of loneliness. The family was left back in camp and all the victim could do was wait as their body wasted away.

But along came Jesus. I can see the leper hiding from the multitudes as Jesus preached in the mountain. I see him as he listened from behind a rock or a bush to the words of the Lord. He saw hope in the teacher. Then, he must have found a place along the route he knew Jesus must take when he came off the mountain. There he spoke to the Lord and made his plea.

I find it so wonderful to know that there is hope for everyone in the Lord Jesus. The key here is that the man asked Jesus to help him.

The outline for this chapter follows which contains many other regulations for daily living for Israel:
v1-Of divorce
v5 A new married man goeth not to war (Interesting, and shows the importance of marriage)
v6,10 Of pledges
v7 Of manstealers
v8 Of leprosy
v14 The hire to be given
v16 Of justice
v19 Of charity

(Helps from the Topical Reference Bible by Dugan, Scofield reference Bible)

Keywords: milton southerland, Bible Study, leprosy, Deuteronomy, Bible, Baptist

Psalms 16:1 "Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust."