8:1-4 And, behold, there came a leper shew thyself to the priest
―(1) When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. (2) And, behold, there came
a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (3) And Jesus put forth his
hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (4) And
Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that
Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them‖.
This is a very significant section of Scripture; the meaning of which is, however, missed in modern Bible
commentaries. Many Bibles cross-reference this section to Leviticus chapter 13 and 14 and what they call
the "laws regarding leprosy‖. Although the link to Leviticus is correct, the common interpretation of the
ailment being "leprosy" is incorrect. For instance, the Geneva Study Bible even has a caption in chapter 14
entitled, "The Law Concerning Leprous Houses‖.
Of course, the idea of a house having leprosy is absurd. The text of Leviticus clearly shows this is not the
disease of leprosy:
None of the physical skin conditions described are those of leprosy.
The method of examination and treatment is not that for leprosy.
Leprosy does not appear on clothing and walls of homes.
The affliction spoke of in Leviticus is known in Jewish Bibles as tzaraat. (The first two letters are pronounced
like the double z in "pizza‖—broken down, it‘s pronounced ―zara-at‖.) Scripture shows that this was a specific
disease inflicted directly by YHWH Himself for hidden sin among the people. It is taught in Judaism that
tzaraat was directly associated with the sin of lashon hara (an evil tongue). This was when people would
speak evil of others behind their backs. In the book of Numbers, chapter 12, we see Moses‘ own sister,
Miriam, afflicted with tzaraat when she spoke against Moses.
Only YHWH could give and take away the affliction of Tzaraat. Only YHWH knew of the hidden sin and also
if the sinner was truly repentant in their heart. The disease would go away only upon true repentance. YHWH
gave the priests specific instructions on recognising both the appearance and disappearance of tzaraat.
Upon its healing, it was recognised that the sinner had been forgiven by YHWH and they would then have
certain steps to take prior to being allowed to re-enter the community.
If the man approaching Y‘shua in these verses is indeed afflicted with tzaraat (and by Y‘shua's instructions to
him, it would appear so), then we have a significant proof text for His deity. For Y‘shua to remove tzaraat
from a man was even more significant than other types of diseases, as tzaraat could only be removed by
Elohim.
Another point to note in this section is that Y‘shua commanded the man not to tell anyone but to inform the
priests. As already mentioned, He was once again following the Torah by instructing the man to go see the
priest. Y‘shua adhered to Positive Law 110: Lev 14:2 On the specified procedure of cleansing: ―This shall be
the law of the leper (tzaraat) in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:...‖
A question to consider is: why does Y‘shua (here and later on as well) tell people not to spread the word of
His miracles? We will address this in the next section of this study.
Let‘s go back to the subject of "tzaraat‖. There is another interesting story in the New Covenant that seems
to be related to this sin-related condition. One could ask, "Who, more than anyone else, was speaking
lashon hara against the Messiah and his followers?
This was Sha'ul (Paul/Saul), of course. In Acts chapter 9, we read of Paul's encounter with Y‘shua. He is
stricken with an ailment that blinds him. The details of this affliction are given when it comes to an end: ―And
immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and
was baptized‖ (Acts 9:18 on).
The Greek word for ―leprosy", as found in the New Testament, is lepra (from the root lepis) – meaning a flake
or scale (Strong‘s #3014, #3013). This is the word used to describe the ―scales" that Paul received on his
Road to Damascus. It is also the word used to describe the man healed by Y‘shua in verses 8:1-4. Thus, an
argument could be made that Paul was stricken with Tzaraat, which was healed through his encounter with
Y‘shua.