The Disease of Leprosy

Lesson 59

Not many of us have seen a leper. But there is a disease of leprosy running rampant - not only in the secular section of society, but amongst Christians - brothers and sisters in the Lord.

It is interesting to find the cause of Miriam’s leprosy in Numbers 12:

"And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which wereupon the face of the earth.) And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous."

Apart from slandering Moses, the anointed of the Lord, there was also a matter of pride involved, which is always the case when someone is a slanderer or a gossiper. The judgment of God was leprosy! Wow! That is something we truly need to ponder upon and repent of if we are guilty of the same thing. 

Psalm 105:15 "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." 

Sometimes we wonder why we are cast out, so to speak “outside the camp” (of HIs Presence). It might be God’s judgment on our tongues, which mark us a UNCLEAN"!  If we read Numbers 12, we see that God departed from the temple! 

When the Prophet, Isaiah encountered the manifest presence of the Lord (Isaiah 6), it was the first thing he was convicted of: The uncleanness of his lips and those of the people around him.

Talking behind someone's back, listening to the slander of others, believing the worst of another and then judging him/her, is a serious offense in the eyes of the Lord, causing His presence to depart.

God always has the Provision ready when we repent. So, let us do so and ask for the cleaning coal from the altar to have our mouths purified, declaring with David,

"I said, “I will guard my ways That I may not sin with my tongue; I will muzzle my mouth while the wicked are in my presence.” Psalm 39:1

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be well-pleasing in Thy sight, Oh Lord!"