Leprosy

In short

It is a skin disease, but it has significance beyond that, even to the New Testament.

Also, to be clear, leprosy is a specific thing in medicine today, but the words in the Bible that we read as “leprosy” (or “leper,” etc.) are very likely referring to many different kinds of disease. That’s not a flaw with the Bible, but rather it’s a flaw with our knowledge of ancient Hebrew and what they meant by the term.

Why it is important

Skin diseases can be extremely contagious, so the Bible requires that lepers be removed from society.

Imagine having leprosy and being cut off from the world for weeks at a time (Lev 13:46). Or possibly for years if it doesn’t heal up. In the age of COVID-19, that’s actually a lot easier to imagine now. It’s terribly depressing. Sure, we understand the need for it, but it’s still very hard to suffer with.

Also, in the Old Testament, it made a person “unclean,” which meant they could not do certain things for worshiping God. Imagine that going on for weeks or years. It’s hard for a faithful believer to not serve God the way he used to be able to.

Now imagine what you would owe someone who cured you. This is a big impact of Jesus Christ.

How it’s a theme in the Bible

By my count, the words “leper” and “leprosy” and ”leprous” appear 68 times in the Bible, concentrated in three places:

• 33 times in Leviticus chapters 13-14
• 10 in the book of 2 Kings (of those, 7 in the story of Naaman)
• And 13 times in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke

Stories involving leprosy

The big one is Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Naaman is a gentile who has leprosy, and he is cured by Elisha, the Jewish prophet.

Jesus points out this sad irony in Luke 4:27, “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus heals 10 lepers but he notices that only one came back to Jesus, and he was a Samaritan.

The overarching theme of these stories is how people that are dismissed by society (even if rightfully) wind up having a deeper faith than those who are supposed to be right.

Or to put it in a better way,

“And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance’”

Luke 5:31-32