Metzora “Leper”
It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.
Metzorah is the Hebrew title for “Leper” and is the name for the weekly Torah portion reading for the Book of Leviticus starting in chapter 14 verse 1 and going through chapter 15 verse 33.
It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Malachi in chapter 3 verse 4 through verse 24.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of Matthew in chapter 17 with verses 9 through 13.
As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.
Torah Portion Overview-
Metzora is the Hebrew word translated as Leprous.
This weeks Torah portion opens with the rituals performed when a person with a scale disease (translated as leprosy) is healed. It is important to see that the person is not healed by this ritual, but is healed and then the ritual is performed.
It is important to note that there are ideas here that the person with the disease is considered as a “dead” man. This may be the meaning of the red blood, red wood, and red string; they are all like blood because the man is “dead”.
The cleansing of the man then would be like the dead coming back to life. He has been healed and must now be cleansed.
The priest is then told about the healing and comes to the outside of the camp to examine the individual who has been healed. Remember the realm of sacred space and how it relates to those outside.
Priest - works in the Tabernacle - performs sacrifices.
Israelite - lives within the camp, a clean place - offers sacrifices and eats clean.
Gentile - lives in the “wilderness”, eats unclean, worships other gods and is an outsider.
It is between the wilderness and the camp that the unclean must live. They are outsiders and are not allowed into sacred space, lest the sacred space be polluted. The priest then must go to this place between places, outside the camp (but not wilderness).
It is here, outside the camp that the ritual is performed. Two clean wild birds (as opposed to a clean bird for sacrifice), such as a sparrow are taken. One bird is killed and his blood placed into an earthen jar with living water (running water) in it. They dip the other bird, red wood, and red string into the jar. The live bird (with the contaminated blood on it) is then released into the field.
The idea here is that the bird will carry the impurity that is being cleansed away. It will not return to the city (hence a dove or pigeon is not used). Instead it will go out into the wilderness, never to return. The impurity is, in essence, sent from outside the camp to the wilderness, the place of death and uncleanness.
The uncleanness is sent out and the man then goes through a series of ritual cleansings; the washing of the body, the washing of the clothes, the shaving of all hair. After seven days and two cleansings he is considered clean. The reference to the seven days of cleansing, as well as the sprinkling seven times of the blood on the man also reminds us of Yom Kippur where the blood is sprinkled seven times (Leviticus 16:14-15). The Yom Kippur sacrifices were for the cleansing of the tabernacle but this ritual is for the cleansing of a man. It is to bring him from the place of uncleanness to cleanness, from death to life.
But what of those who are Gentiles? With the story of Naaman we see a Gentiles who cannot call for the priest. There is no way to do a sacrifice, there is no way to cleanse him. Instead, the prophet instructs him to dip seven times in living water. Think of this as the boundary between the gentile world and the Israelite world. He cannot be sprinkled seven times with blood but he can be immersed seven times. Naaman is not healed before this though, instead, he is healed by it, so even though there is a connection, there are major differences. Why does this matter?
This matters because once Naaman is cleansed he requests to be allowed to carry off some dirt so that he can create sacred space, using the dirt of Israel, with him. He is in essence creating “a little Israel” with him and then offering sacrifices. To him, he sees this as a way to honor Yahweh. His sacrifice, even though it seems to be to other gods, is in fact on sacred space for Yahweh and thus directed at Yahweh. He is transferring his allegiance to Yahweh. Why does this matter?
Just like Naaman we are in exile. We live outside, we do not live in Israel. Yet we carry the Holy Spirit with us. We are sacred space. We represent the Most High! When we go places we are in essence little pieces of Israel. The life that we live is a sacrifice to Yahweh. So even though we are in exile we are not cut off from Him. Our High Priest has come to us outside the camp (Hebrews 13:12-13), to cleanse us, and has sprinkled us with living water and washed us clean! We have gone from death to life and so we are alive in Him! We too were once dead men like the lepers, but now we are washed, clean, and alive again!
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Leviticus 14:1 Purification of Lepers
Leviticus 15:1 Bodily Discharge
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Malachi 3:6 Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
Malachi 3:16 Faithful Remnant
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
Luke 2:22 Jesus presented to the Temple
Luke 2:25 Consolation of Israel
The Book of Leviticus “Vayikra” which means “He called Out.”
The Old Testament is commonly referred to as the Torah. It is considered the most sacred of all of Israel’s Scriptures. Most of our modern Bibles include the Old Testament “Torah” as the first five books in the Bible. The name for the third book of the Bible, Leviticus, is called Vayikra in the Hebrew. The name “Vayikra” comes from the opening phrases in the book of Leviticus which means “He Called Out.”
Leviticus flows directly out of the stories in the previous book of Exodus and continues the story of their gathering by God to enter into a covenant relationship with the Hebrew God known as Adonai, Yahweh, Hashem, and many other titles. The book gives an telling of instructions and testimonies of how the Hebrew people wrestled to become bond servants while shaking off the slave mentality.
As Christians, we find the book of Leviticus and the stories therein, as a historical account of how we as believers are grafted into the covenants and promises of God with our forefathers and how we can learn to walk and learn from their actions as God establishes His people and nation by teaching them how to be bond servants not slaves.
To Watch an overview of this week’s Torah Portion CLICK HERE