And behold....

G'day!

I was reading through the Word earlier and came across something I thought was very profound.
Earlier, I realized that I forgot my PDA (which has a Bible and the reading plan I'm using on it), so I decided to open up my version of the E-Sword program and start where I thought the plan left off yesterday. Matthew 8.

Right into the chapter, I noticed the word "behold." I've heard that anytime you see this particular word in Scripture you should sit up and pay attention, so I did. The mini-story was about Jesus being approached by a leper, the leper saying that he knew Jesus could cure him if he wanted to (and of course he did), and what Jesus told the leper after he was cured (don't tell anyone, but go to the priests and offer the sacrifices commanded by Moses).

I thought, what in the world is this? Why is there a behold there, of all places? After digging around a bit I realized that I was looking for the "infectious skin diseases" section of Leviticus, chapters 13 and 14. I read through the ways a priest can tell if it's an infectious skin disease the fellow has, or if it's only a rash. I read all of the cleansing rituals involved, what offerings were appropriate for the poor and rich, how long the process took, and so on.

It wasn't until feeling lead to read Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible that all of this stuff started to make sense. The key here seems to be that the priest doesn't actually cleanse the guy of anything; his cure is left solely to God. Being cured of leprosy (or the equivalent) was apparently an act of divine authority resting soley with the LORD. Leprosy was also viewed by the culture as a horrible disease that one was afflicted with because of sins a person committed.

So, when the leper said to Jesus "If you will, you can heal me," he was not just acknowledging Jesus's powers of healing - he was acknowledging his divine nature. When Jesus said "I will, be clean," he was not just saying that he could. He was declaring his divinity in a powerful and profound way, and also affirmed the leper's knowledge of Jesus's true nature.

I wonder what the priests thought. Something interesting to note - when Nicodemus came to Jesus, it was early on in his ministry, in Jerusalem, during or around the Passover time, when all the faithful Jews of the land came to Jerusalem to worship and offer sacrifices. Jesus apparently went to Capernaum, the place near where the leper was healed, before he was in Jerusalem. I wonder if Nicodemus was the priest that had to examine the man. (I read in another Gospel that he didn't go the priests, but talked about it openly instead, so this very well could be a moot point.) There's absolutely nothing I can find to support this other than stringing together a few random verses, but it's a neat idea. Anyway, apparently leprosy was something was the Messiah was supposed to be able to cure and thus was a sign of the true Messiah (imagine that), though I believe that part is only tradition. Haven't researched it enough to know if that part is Scripturally based or not.
What would it be like to see a man you've known as a leper (I think) suddenly and deliberately cured by a man named Jesus? I'd probably run out on the guy and try to track Jesus down. Either that or completely deny it ever happened. After all, who would expect the Messiah to come in my days, and not only that, but have me examine a man he cured?