The “Leprosy” In Our Life
I want to discuss a pretty interesting guy. You see, the Jews have always venerated Moses above everyone except God, whereas the Church sees him as pretty much just another Bible character. Now Yahweh sure seemed to see Moses as very special because he received such impressive credentials. Moses was miraculously delivered as an infant; later YHWH gave Moses the Torah; allowed Moses to see His face; allowed Mose to perform miracles, and received the sole privilege of speaking as God. No person ever had that honor, before or after Moses, not even prophets. That is until Jesus arrived, a few thousand years later.
What an incredible responsibility! No wonder he didn’t want the job. Moses was truly a man touched by God, supernaturally called and full of revelation about who God was. He was humble, pious, and burdened for the honor of God. He was permitted to know guidance as few other men have known as he loved God and grieved over the sins of the people.
However, in Exodus 4:1, we discover that Moses was reluctant to trust YHWH — which is not what you would expect from a potential prophet. Or, maybe it was downright fear that was starting to show in Moses’ heart. In fact, if we look closely, we can see that Moses flat-out did not believe YHWH. Because in the last chapter, YHWH told Moses, unequivocally, that the elders and people would listen and pay attention to Moses. But Moses turns right around and says to his God, “No they won‘t.” But, because he is quite merciful, YHWH didn’t zap him with a bolt of lightning. Instead, He began to give Moses a series of proofs — that the Bible typically calls signs — of YHWH‘s ability to carry out whatever it is He ordains.
Now YHWH gives Moses the power to bring about miracles. The power to perform miraculous signs had never been given to any man before it was given to Moses. However, we have to remember that this power wasn’t Moses’ power, it was God working through Moses. Moses didn’t become a godly magician. This was the same mysterious stuff we struggle to understand about the faithful Believer today. Whatever power we have isn’t our power, nor does it come through our minds or our flesh, in fact, it has nothing to with ourselves, it is God in us. As a result, whatever we do with these powers must first be done strictly by His will, and second by means of the power of His spirit — that person we call the Holy Spirit.
Anyway, the first sign YHWH gave, dealt with Moses’ staff. Now understand this “staff” was nothing more than a stick, a Shepherd‘s staff, which he used while taking care of the sheep. However, YHWH was going to transform the purpose of both Moses and his staff: instead of shepherding sheep, Moses was about to shepherd the people of Israel.
Now what is so significant about turning Moses’ staff from a piece of dead and dried-up wood, into a snake, and then back again? Well, it is no coincidence that the staff was turned into a snake because the snake was the official Egyptian symbol for royal power and authority — both religious and civil. This is confirmed when we discover all the Pharaohs wore a golden serpent symbol on their heads. The snake represented the patron cobra-goddess of Egypt.
What this means is that while showing Moses the tremendous supernatural ability to turn a dead, dried-out piece of wood into a live animal, and back again (at His command), as a former prince of Egypt, Moses must have instantly recognized the symbolism of the serpent. Through YHWH’s power, Moses was about to overcome Egypt, whose very symbol was a serpent and that Old Serpent, Satan himself, who guided Egypt. A simple Shepherd was going grab the serpent, Egypt, by its tail and shake it. And it is not coincidental that Moses’ snake, devoured the snakes that the magicians created.
The second sign, which I wanted to focus on, is a little more straightforward. Moses was told to stick his clean hand into his garment, and it became diseased — defiled. Then Moses put the defiled hand back into his garment and it became clean!
Now catch what this is saying. this sign was as much directly related to Israel, in the same way, the first sign with the staff directly related to Egypt. YHWH‘s chosen people began pure, and then the Lord allowed them to become impure. But, He is able to redeem anyone. He can take the most defiled person (or nation), and purify them.
When Moses removed his hand the first time, the skin disease that had instantaneously consumed his hand, was not Leprosy. Yeah, I realize that most translations call it that, but the Hebrew word is Tzara’at. We are not sure what the disease was in medical terms, but the Hebrews considered it not only ugly and contagious but as an outward sign of the infected person‘s inward spiritual condition. In other words, a person with Tzara’at was seen as being disciplined or cursed from God. What I mean is that Moses’ diseased hand represented Israel‘s (and Moses’) inward spiritual condition. Just as important, When YHWH removed the Tzara‘at from Moses‘ hand, it was saying that He was able to, and going to, purify Israel (and Moses) from all their defilement.
What amazes me in this episode, Moses never knew about the “leprosy” in his own heart. Yahweh said to him, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” So Moses did this, and when he took his hand out, it had a skin disease. It looked as flaky as snow.” (Exodus 4:6).
That has got to shake someone up! I mean to stick your hand in your coat and when you remove it and you see it covered all flaky as snow, is rather sobering! What an object lesson on the utter depravity of the flesh. Was God indulging in a little magic with Moses? No! It was a powerful lesson the man of God had to learn. It was Yahweh’s way of saying to his man, “When self is in control, you end up hurting people and bringing reproach on my work. When you attempt to do my work in spectacular, fleshly ways, you minister death, not life.”
The Lord was declaring, “I cannot use that old nature from Egypt — it cannot be transformed, it will always be leprous. There must be a new man; one who is caught up in the glory and power of the I AM!”
Moses was commanded to put his leprous hand back into his cloak. “. . . when he took it out this time, it was healthy again like the rest of his body” (Exodus 4:7).
Stretching out the hand represents our ministry. And what is leprosy, but sin? Hidden, unexposed, unforsaken sin! So what happens when a man of God gets on holy ground? His inner soul is exposed. His deepest, hidden sins are brought to light before his eyes, and he is driven to the tender mercies of Christ for healing and restoration!
I’ll tell you what, we better thank our God for that second, sanctifying touch! That cleansing moment, when by faith, the old flesh is crucified, and the hand of ministry is purified — when we are once again clothed in the proper flesh — His flesh. Thank Him that we can rejoice in the cleansing by the precious blood of Christ.
Nickolas
What an incredible responsibility! No wonder he didn’t want the job. Moses was truly a man touched by God, supernaturally called and full of revelation about who God was. He was humble, pious, and burdened for the honor of God. He was permitted to know guidance as few other men have known as he loved God and grieved over the sins of the people.
However, in Exodus 4:1, we discover that Moses was reluctant to trust YHWH — which is not what you would expect from a potential prophet. Or, maybe it was downright fear that was starting to show in Moses’ heart. In fact, if we look closely, we can see that Moses flat-out did not believe YHWH. Because in the last chapter, YHWH told Moses, unequivocally, that the elders and people would listen and pay attention to Moses. But Moses turns right around and says to his God, “No they won‘t.” But, because he is quite merciful, YHWH didn’t zap him with a bolt of lightning. Instead, He began to give Moses a series of proofs — that the Bible typically calls signs — of YHWH‘s ability to carry out whatever it is He ordains.
Now YHWH gives Moses the power to bring about miracles. The power to perform miraculous signs had never been given to any man before it was given to Moses. However, we have to remember that this power wasn’t Moses’ power, it was God working through Moses. Moses didn’t become a godly magician. This was the same mysterious stuff we struggle to understand about the faithful Believer today. Whatever power we have isn’t our power, nor does it come through our minds or our flesh, in fact, it has nothing to with ourselves, it is God in us. As a result, whatever we do with these powers must first be done strictly by His will, and second by means of the power of His spirit — that person we call the Holy Spirit.
Anyway, the first sign YHWH gave, dealt with Moses’ staff. Now understand this “staff” was nothing more than a stick, a Shepherd‘s staff, which he used while taking care of the sheep. However, YHWH was going to transform the purpose of both Moses and his staff: instead of shepherding sheep, Moses was about to shepherd the people of Israel.
Now what is so significant about turning Moses’ staff from a piece of dead and dried-up wood, into a snake, and then back again? Well, it is no coincidence that the staff was turned into a snake because the snake was the official Egyptian symbol for royal power and authority — both religious and civil. This is confirmed when we discover all the Pharaohs wore a golden serpent symbol on their heads. The snake represented the patron cobra-goddess of Egypt.
What this means is that while showing Moses the tremendous supernatural ability to turn a dead, dried-out piece of wood into a live animal, and back again (at His command), as a former prince of Egypt, Moses must have instantly recognized the symbolism of the serpent. Through YHWH’s power, Moses was about to overcome Egypt, whose very symbol was a serpent and that Old Serpent, Satan himself, who guided Egypt. A simple Shepherd was going grab the serpent, Egypt, by its tail and shake it. And it is not coincidental that Moses’ snake, devoured the snakes that the magicians created.
The second sign, which I wanted to focus on, is a little more straightforward. Moses was told to stick his clean hand into his garment, and it became diseased — defiled. Then Moses put the defiled hand back into his garment and it became clean!
Now catch what this is saying. this sign was as much directly related to Israel, in the same way, the first sign with the staff directly related to Egypt. YHWH‘s chosen people began pure, and then the Lord allowed them to become impure. But, He is able to redeem anyone. He can take the most defiled person (or nation), and purify them.
When Moses removed his hand the first time, the skin disease that had instantaneously consumed his hand, was not Leprosy. Yeah, I realize that most translations call it that, but the Hebrew word is Tzara’at. We are not sure what the disease was in medical terms, but the Hebrews considered it not only ugly and contagious but as an outward sign of the infected person‘s inward spiritual condition. In other words, a person with Tzara’at was seen as being disciplined or cursed from God. What I mean is that Moses’ diseased hand represented Israel‘s (and Moses’) inward spiritual condition. Just as important, When YHWH removed the Tzara‘at from Moses‘ hand, it was saying that He was able to, and going to, purify Israel (and Moses) from all their defilement.
What amazes me in this episode, Moses never knew about the “leprosy” in his own heart. Yahweh said to him, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” So Moses did this, and when he took his hand out, it had a skin disease. It looked as flaky as snow.” (Exodus 4:6).
That has got to shake someone up! I mean to stick your hand in your coat and when you remove it and you see it covered all flaky as snow, is rather sobering! What an object lesson on the utter depravity of the flesh. Was God indulging in a little magic with Moses? No! It was a powerful lesson the man of God had to learn. It was Yahweh’s way of saying to his man, “When self is in control, you end up hurting people and bringing reproach on my work. When you attempt to do my work in spectacular, fleshly ways, you minister death, not life.”
The Lord was declaring, “I cannot use that old nature from Egypt — it cannot be transformed, it will always be leprous. There must be a new man; one who is caught up in the glory and power of the I AM!”
Moses was commanded to put his leprous hand back into his cloak. “. . . when he took it out this time, it was healthy again like the rest of his body” (Exodus 4:7).
Stretching out the hand represents our ministry. And what is leprosy, but sin? Hidden, unexposed, unforsaken sin! So what happens when a man of God gets on holy ground? His inner soul is exposed. His deepest, hidden sins are brought to light before his eyes, and he is driven to the tender mercies of Christ for healing and restoration!
I’ll tell you what, we better thank our God for that second, sanctifying touch! That cleansing moment, when by faith, the old flesh is crucified, and the hand of ministry is purified — when we are once again clothed in the proper flesh — His flesh. Thank Him that we can rejoice in the cleansing by the precious blood of Christ.
Nickolas
(I send out messages like this each morning in emails, and if you are interested in receiving them, send me your email address and I will add you to the list. However, you can also find these messages at: Thought For The Day)
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