The Torah portion "Metzorah" is usually translated as "Leper."  This is not the best description of the Scriptural affliction called leprosy.  From ancient times, it was considered a supernatural affliction, not the flesh-eating disease known as Hansen's Disease.  In our Torah classes this week, we reviewed the affliction from its Biblical description as a "mark or strike" and how each of the four horses of Revelation can be traced to one type of tzara'at (leprosy).

Let's take a look at this Divine mark in a simpler context.  It's hard to teach Revelation without some basic building blocks from the Torah.  First, notice that the record of those stricken with tzara'at in the Bible were prominent people:  Moses, Miriam, Naaman, Gehazi, King Uzziah.  The Holy One made a point about holiness in each case.  Each was an important leader, and each had a heart to serve.  Because leaders and teachers receive "the greater condemnation" for errors as James wrote, the Holy One loves them enough to mark them so that they will repent of transgressions as an example to all Israel.  

Each of those leaders had something in common with the first Metzorah, the serpent in the Garden.   There is a Jewish tradition associated with the serpent, who appears repeatedly in Revelation. The first case of  tzara'at  was on the serpent, who slandered The Holy One with his speech.  

He cursed him with leprosy, for those scales on the serpent are leprosy.( Bereishit  Rabbah  20:4)

A midrash may or may not be literally true, but it teaches an object lesson.  In this case, the scales on the snake are likened to the "scale" of tzara'at on a metzorah.  In the serpent are found the three...no four...sins of the metzorah:

1.  The leper with pride?  Does not acknowledge his mortality, equality with other humans. ( Naaman )

2.  The leper who slanders?   Delivers bad news about others. (Moses and Miriam)

3.  The leper who covets?   Begrudges others their successes, gifts, positions, or wealth. ( Gehazi, King Uzziah )

4.  All these are "murder," for the punishment of a murderer is death, and the  metzorah  is as one "dead." (Ex 12:12)

The serpent caused the death of mankind through pride, slander, and covetousness.  Each of the Biblical leaders mentioned flirted with the abominations of death in some way.  

There are six things which the L ORD  hates , y es, seven which are an abomination  to Him. (Pr 6:16)

 

The "six, no seven abominations" of the Wicked Lamp progressively are:

Proud look

Lying tongue

Hands that shed innocent blood

A heart devising wicked plans

Feet that run quickly to evil

A false witness breathing out lies

One who separates brothers

Look how many of the seven abominations relate to the tongue.  In fact, we may say that even though separate, they are working in perfect unity, for even a tongue has a "hand" when it comes to abominations:

" Death and life are in  the  hand of the tongue ." (Pr 18:21 or Je 9:7)

The one who separates brothers is the seventh abomination . An abomination is like eating a mouse or pig.  It is like eating a scaly serpent.   It doesn't mean just separating others from one another with the hands of the tongue and your pride...it means separating yourself from your brother as well.  The metzorah is not a victim of his community; he has separated himself by refusing to repent of the transgression and be purified.

These leaders teach us that yes, it is an abominable thing to separate brothers from one another, but how precious are you to the Father?  So precious that He does not want you to be the brother who separates himself with lingering spots of pride, slander, or covetousness.  As our guest teacher said recently, "An individual is unqualified to examine his own spots!"  The individual must notice that they are there, but he must submit to an authoritative examination by someone who knows the five books of the Torah and knows how to guide him to repentance so that he may re-enter the camp.  A metzorah who is suffering from a "burn" of tzara'at may actually be glad he's separated.  He's mad!  He's offended!  He's self-righteously indignant!

The priest examines the scales, burns, swellings, and white spots.  In Creation Gospel Workbook Five, Volume Three, each of these marks is explained in more detail, such as the swelling mark that represents a spot of pride.  Yes, for an Israelite, even a little spot is judged because the Father wants the beloved one to appear before Him without spot or wrinkle.

Jewish tradition adds more insight, not just to the beginnings of time, but the end times:

"When the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to it [the serpent], 'Upon your belly shall you go,' ministering angels descended and cut off its hands and feet, and its cries resounded from one end of the world to the other.  Thus the serpent is mentioned in order to throw light upon the downfall of Babylonia, and thereby its own experience is illumined: 'The cry that will go forth shall be like the serpents'" [Je 46:22] ( Bereishit  Rabbah  20:5)

The serpent's curse represents a worldwide event represented by the ancient city of Babylon.  Those who operate in the seven abominations, yielding their hands and feet to murder with slandering tongues of pride like their father the serpent, will be marked with the mark of the most cunning beast of the field, the serpent.  

And another angel, a second one, followed, saying,  "Fallen , fallen is Babylon the great ..." (Re 14:8)

The key passage in Vayikra (Leviticus) is the progression from food laws distinguishing "abominations" to purity laws, which are "life" laws, including the  metzorah , one suffering from supernatural disease. He sees a priest , not a medical doctor.  One of the specific animals forbidden to eat is one who falls down and goes on his belly:

The L ORD  God said to the serpent,  "Because you have done this,

Cursed are you more than all cattle, a nd more than every beast of the field;   On your belly  you will go, a nd dust you will eat a ll the days of your life." (Ge 3:14)

'Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all fours, whatever has many feet, in respect to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, you shall not eat them, for they are detestable. (Le 11:42)

In Revelation, the serpent has been cast down.  A serpent fell in the Garden, and a serpent will fall to earth.  Fallen, fallen.  And woe to those who dwell on the earth, for he knows that his time is short to continue deceiving before he's bound for a thousand years.

And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying,  "Fallen , fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a  prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird ." (Re 18:2)

The "fallen" status of demons, unclean spirits, and unclean birds take in three concepts of Torah: 1) the serpent  2) impurity (demons) 3) unclean animals that are not food.  The seven bowls of Revelation are the counterparts to the bowls of living water and seven days for the metzorah's purification.  Instead of crossing from separation to life in the camp, the Revelation bowls impart a lasting death:

Then  the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood . (Re   16:1-7)

The cleansing of the "dead man"  metzorah  from his mark is accomplished with blood flowing into a bowl of " living  water," such as from a spring or river. The blood of the clean bird mingles with water, and the other clean bird is set free in the field.  This metzorah will not be consigned to the habitation of demons and unclean birds.

There are two metzoraim (plural of metzorah) recorded in Scripture.  One is the Aramean Naaman, and the other is one of the ten whom Yeshua healed, and he was a Samaritan (Lk 17).  Samaritans worshiped in Mount Gerizim, not the Temple, so the Samaritan had no priest to whom to show himself for purification. Nevertheless, he was thankful and healed, so we know he repented of his transgressions.  Being thankful is evidence of humility, and "returning" as he did to Yeshua is evidence of repentance, teshuvah.  

There are four unnamed metzoraim in the haftorah, 2 Kings 7:3-20.  No coincidence that they plunder the Aramean camp!  Twice the Arameans are mentioned in the context of tzara'at in 2 Kings.  Naaman returned to Aram, and even though he continued to serve the king, who served a pagan god, Naaman acknowledged the Holy One of Israel as the only true One.  Yes, without a Temple in the lands of exile, it is a precarious and uncomfortable situation for those who serve Adonai!  Aram means "swelled up and exalted," insinuating sins of pride, and the Holy One cannot dwell with pride.  We live in a swelled-up, prideful world called Babylon, but the Holy One can deliver us if we acknowledge our low place, repent, and change our ways.

See how the lepers show signs of repentance when they encounter the riches of the Arameans:

When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.   Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will  overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household." (2 Ki 7:8-9)

At first, the four lepers hoard the wealth, but one of the four realizes their opportunity to heal their four sins of a metzorah.  As Yeshua said, their "faith" could make them whole.  Although the metzorah is already "dead," there is a second death coming, and they will be judged.  If there are still marks of pride, slander, or covetousness, they will be punished. Likewise, the four horsemen of Revelation are testing for marks of tzaraat. Do people still want to conquer others with pride?  Gain wealth, symbolized by the same barley and wheat symbols in 2 Kings? Slay with the sword in the hand of the tongue and arrow?  Then comes the Pale Horse, a yellowish-green color that is the cognate of the color of leprosy in the beard around the mouth.  Death.  Twice dead.  Twice fallen.  Twice unclean.  This is what the metzorah must call out, concealing his murderous mouth, "Unclean, unclean."

As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be  uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and  cry , ' Unclean! Unclean !' (Le 13:45)

The lepers who plundered the Aramean army show all the signs of repentance.  Scripture does not record that they were healed, but perhaps the signs are so plain that the reader is expected to KNOW that they were:

The leper with pride? He a cknowledged his mortality and hopelessness.  No person is better or lower than another in this life.  That is left for the judgment of the World to Come. Wealth apart from a holy community is no wealth at all.  Riches in this life may be the source of punishment in the next.

The leper who slandered?   Delivered good news.  He used the hand of his tongue for life.

The leper who coveted?   Shared the wealth.

The metzoraim did  teshuvah , for in a strange turn of phrase, the king's servant says, "the one inside is the same as the one outside."  That is the lesson of the four lepers.  They turned the fourth sin, murder, death, into life with acts and words of repentance.  They changed from the inside out. 

It's in our hands.