I have eczema. Various family members have it, too. It’s not fun—unless you count having prescription-strength medication on standby at various pharmacies and biweekly applications as “fun.”
But until this deep dive into the Bible, I’d never thought of it as anything more than a simple skin disease. Sure, leprosy is used as a punishment for sin (Uzziah’s leprosy in 2 Chronicles 26:19 comes to mind), but that was an Old Testament thing. Should I be wary also?
If that seems like an odd question, just imagine how the Jews felt when reading Deuteronomy 24:8-9. After a section that describes the never-wanted certificate of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-5) and a few sundry laws, the Text launches into a brief theological lesson.
Here it is: “Be careful against an infection of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you…Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.”
To me, this looks like a Biblical non sequitur (not the comic strip, mind you, but two ideas that just don’t seem to connect). At the beginning of the passage, God says to watch against leprosy, then says to remember what happened to Miriam.
The phrasing is very similar to when Jesus tells people to “Remember Lot’s wife” in Luke 17:32. He teaches about a future event, then uses a past event to drive the point home. “Just as that happened,” He says, “this will happen, too.”
So when you apply that logic to what Moses says here, it’s clear he’s using Miriam as an illustration. And when you remember what Miriam did—speaking out against the authority of Moses (Numbers 12:1-15)—the lesson for us becomes obvious: Don’t downplay God’s Word.
Come to think of it, isn’t that exactly what King Uzziah did? The Law specifically stated that only priests should enter into the Temple to burn incense; they even warned him of it specifically before he entered the Temple. And yet he dismissed that out of hand, entered the Temple, burned incense anyways, and received leprosy as a reward.
Does that mean that everyone who disobeys God’s Word will automatically contract leprosy? Not necessarily
But it does mean that we need to listen to what God tells us—whether that’s in a leprosy outbreak (to minimize further spread) or in everyday obedience. After all, if Miriam can become leprous, who else is immune?