This week's Sabbath reading portion has a combined title of Tazri'a and M'tzora, meaning "She bears seed" and "Infected one". The reading portion includes Leviticus 12 through Leviticus 15. These chapters deal with purification from uncleanness after childbirth, the purification from the uncleanness of bodily discharges, and the identification and cleansing process for an outbreak of leprosy. It is interesting that leprosy can break out on the skin, on garments and even on the walls of houses according to these scriptures.
The source of the portion titled Tazri'a comes from Lev. 12:1-2: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a woman has conceived (zara -sow, yielding, sower, bearing, conceive, seed, to become pregnant, to scatter, disperse) and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean (tame' - unclean, defile, pollute, become impure) seven days..."
The source of the second portion titled M'tzora comes from Lev. 14:2: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'This shall be the law of the leper (sara/tsawrah - to be diseased of the skin, leprous/to scourge, to be stricken with leprosy, a scourge that also was used to describe diseases) for the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest." We can see the connection to the healing power of the Messiah/Christ since His scourge marks or stripes provided our healing and cleansing from unrighteousness according to Isa. 53:4-5 and 1 Pet. 2:24-25. Jesus was known for His cleansing and healing of lepers by both touch and spoken word. (see Lk. 5:12-16 and Lk. 17:11-19). Jesus also healed a woman who had been unclean from an incurable blood flow for twelve years. (Lk. 8:43-48, see also Lev. 15:25-27).
It is interesting to note the similarity of the Hebrew words zara, the one who "bears seed", and sara, the leprous "infected one". This is something to think about.
It is interesting also to see how the LORD challenges our perceptions through His Word. Along with the description of the leper and leprosy that we read in the Leviticus chapters of this week's Tazri'a Sabbath reading portion, we are also given two unusual accounts involving lepers. Can God use a leper to teach us His precepts? The answer, as we will see, is "yes".
In the first account from 2 Kings 5:1-16, the chapter opens, saying: "Now Naaman (na'aman/na'em - pleasantness/be pleasant, beautiful, sweet, delightful, lovely, agreeable, show gracious favor toward, my darling, delightful friend, of pleasant words), commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper (sara - see above)." (v. 1).
Naaman's name has a wonderful meaning, and this Syrian commander is described in Hebrew scripture in a very complimentary way, although he, as a Syrian commander, could not really be considered as a friend to Israel. Syria was an aggressive nation and a threat to the safety of Israel. In fact, Naaman had a young girl captive, taken from her home in Israel, serving in his household. It is this Israelite captive that suggested to Naaman's wife that there was a prophet in Samaria (Israel) who could and would heal her master of leprosy. She was referring to the prophet Elisha. When Naaman heard this report of the Israelite captive, he went into the king of Syria, his master, and the king told him to go to Israel with an official letter to the king of Israel. Naaman also took with him much silver and gold and ten changes (halipa/halap - a change of garments, changing course of life, relief from death/change, renew, sprout again, revive, alter, to show newness, pierce through or change) of clothing. (v. 2-5).
The verse above notes that it was ten changes of clothing. In the Hebrew alphabet, the letter yod also stands for the number ten. Yod represents the hand and means "a deed done, a finished work." The Hebrew word used in this verse for "ten" is eser/asar, meaning "ten/tithe, give a tithe, to become wealthy, rich, to prosper, be happy." These ten changes of clothing as expressed in Hebrew represent the idea that a work of newness and deliverance is to take place, a change in Naaman's course of life, a relief from death.
The letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel is amusing: "Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy." (v. 6). When the king of Israel read (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the letter from the king of Syria, he was shocked. He said, "Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to heal him of his leprosy?" He thought the king of Syria's letter was a trap intending to seek a quarrel and attack Israel, and the king tore his clothes in grief. (v. 7). Elisha (meaning "God is Salvation"), the man of God, heard what had happened with the king of Israel and told the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him (Naaman) come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." (v. 8).
No earthly king had the power or authority to cleanse a leper, but there is a heavenly king who was and is well able to do so.
Naaman, the Syrian commander, went by his chariot and horses to the door of Elisha's house, but the prophet wouldn't even come out to him! Elisha sent a servant out instead to tell Naaman, "Go and wash in the Jordan (River) seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." Naaman was furious and in a rage at being treated in this manner and then being given these ridiculous instructions to dunk himself in a river! He had expected the man of God to come out to him, call on the name of the LORD his God, wave a hand over him and then Naaman would be healed. (v. 9-11). Naaman's assumptions and expectations of how his healing would come about had not been fulfilled because God had other plans. However, Naaman's servants convinced him to try the remedy that the prophet had said: "So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." (v. 13-14). Naaman returned to the prophet's house and declared: "Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel...", and he offered the prophet a gift which the prophet refused. (v. 15-16).
Naaman was a most powerful and honored man in Syria, yet he was willing to listen to a foreign servant girl, and then, even though he was furious, he listened to the servants that he had taken with him to Israel, and he found not only his healing, but His God, the true and only God. His assumptions and expectations would have gained him nothing, but his humility and obedience gained him everything, even newness of life instead of death.
In another reading portion from this double-titled Sabbath, the Syrian army had laid siege to Samaria (Israel). In this siege, a severe famine had overwhelmed Israel. The starvation was so great that people were committing abominations in order to have something to eat. The king of Israel was horrified at hearing this and tore his clothes and wore sackcloth. He blamed Elisha the prophet, seeking his death because the LORD had not delivered Israel from this terror. The king's assumptions and expectations had not been met by God. However, God was not finished with Israel and Syria. When the king's servants came to Elisha's house to arrest him, the door was barred, and Elisha prophesied to a lord, who was there to represent the king, that the famine would be broken by the next day. This seemed an impossibility to this lord. How could this be possible? (2 Kings 6, and 2 Kings 7:1-2).
Who would expect that the LORD would use four lepers to break the famine? The LORD had sent a delusion upon the large Syrian army, that caused them to believe that they were outnumbered and about to be destroyed. They ran away in a panic leaving all of their camp intact with all of their supplies, but no one in Samaria knew that the Syrians had fled. There were four lepers (sara - see above) at the gate of the city of Samaria in Israel. They had to dwell outside the wall and gate because of their leprosy. They were starving also and decided to go to the camp of the Syrians and surrender themselves to them. Perhaps, they thought, the Syrians would feed them. Perhaps the Syrians would kill them, but they were dying anyway so what did they have to lose? (2 Kings 7:3-4).
The fact that there were four lepers is important. Four is the number of the letters of the LORD's name, YHWH. The word, four in Hebrew is arba/raba and not only means the number four and its forms, but it also means four-squared, as is the City of God that will descend from heaven (see Rev. 21:16-17), and it also means to be down on all fours. The number four is also represented by the Hebrew letter daleth, ד, which carries the meaning "a door, a path, a way of life, movement into or out of." We were about to see a spiritual door open and a movement of God.
The four lepers in this account arrived at the Syrian camp to find it abandoned, but with their supplies left behind. The lepers went into the tents and ate their fill. They found silver and gold and clothing and hid those valuables. Later, they said among themselves: "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent...Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household." (v. 8-9). They returned to the city and cried out to the gatekeepers regarding what they had found at the Syrian's deserted camp. The gatekeepers passed the message to the king's household. However, the king was suspicious of this news and thought that the Syrians were setting a trap to draw them out of the city and attack them. (v. 10-12). A slave/servant of the king begged him to send a few men out on horses to see if the lepers' report was true. The king listened to his servant and agreed and the report of the empty Syrian camp was confirmed: "Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians," The famine was broken just as the prophet Elisha had prophesied. (v. 13-16).
Again we see a man of power, in this case the king of Israel, listen to the advice of a slave/servant. Who would have expected the LORD to use these means, a panicked enemy army, the "unclean" (lepers), and the plea of a slave/servant to break both an enemy siege and a famine at the same time?
In a final Sabbath reading portion from M'tzora, "infected one", we are surprisingly taken to Malachi Ch. 3. Only this time, the ones who are "infected" or "unclean" are the priestly tribe of the LORD - the Levites. They are not infected with leprosy as a disease, but they are infected with spiritual uncleanness. In such a condition, they spread that uncleanness to the offerings that pass through their hands to the LORD from His people. The prophet Malachi brings the Word of the LORD to His priestly tribe: "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me...Even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts. 'But who can endure (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? (see also Jesus' similar warning to His disciples, Lk. 21:34-36). For He is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD, as in the days of old, as in the former years." (Mal. 3:1-4). Another prophet told us that if the priests are unclean, then the people become unclean in their knowledge of the LORD. (see Hos. 4:6-9).
After reading this double-titled Sabbath portion for this week, I had to give serious thought to what I had found. Although physical or spiritual "uncleanness" may infect an individual or a whole people, from the most renown to the most common, the LORD in His compassion, has made a provision for repentance, cleansing, healing, and deliverance. Sometimes we create spiritual formulas by which we expect the LORD to move, however, assumptions and expectations that limit the LORD are part of this infection of uncleanness and may cost lives. Prophets were killed, and the Son of God was crucified because of man's wrong assumptions regarding how the LORD would move or not move. These days before Jesus Christ's return will be perilous, and assumptions and formulaic expectations may not be the way to deliverance in the end. The LORD's thoughts and ways are not like ours, as the scriptures say (Isa. 55:8-11), and we see some examples of that here in these Sabbath reading portions. Those who allowed for the possibility of the unlikely, the unexpected, or even the impossible saw miraculous deliverance.
If you would like to know more about the unexpected concerning the LORD, you can join me in my prayer: "Lord of all, You know and declare the end from the beginning. You desire that Your people know You and know Your salvation, Your Son, Jesus, the Messiah/Christ. Let my ears and eyes be open to the guidance of Your Word and Your Holy Spirit. Let my mind and my heart be open to Your workings on my behalf. Protect me from deception and delusion, but let my spirit be open to the way that You have provided for my life and salvation. Cleanse me from all uncleanness and purify me through Your Word and Spirit. Let me not reject those whom You have chosen to move through because they do not conform to my assumptions of who may be used by You. Let me not reject a way to healing and deliverance because it does not conform to my expectations. I thank You that in Your love for Your people, You tell them to follow You. I pray for this in Jesus' name. AMEN."
*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.
