God had a system for dealing with sicknesses in the Old Testament, specifically leprosy. It is not that He healed the sicknesses by these means but that He provided a way to monitor them.

In my last post, I talked about God’s most extraordinary healing of barren women. In this post, we will address Old Testament sicknesses like leprosy.

Today if you need to deal with sickness of any kind, you call the doctor and set up an appointment to see him or her. Your doctor has a scientific system of examining, diagnosing, and prescribing a solution to your malady.

In the Old Testament, there was an extra layer of support. Some people may be curious about how God dealt with sicknesses in the Old Testament. I want to show you what God did and the system He set up to make sure the Israelite community was safe from the spread of sickness.

Israel’s System for Sicknesses in the Old Testament

When God gave Moses the old covenant with its laws and practices, He set up a way to deal with some sicknesses in Israel that is different from today. The book of Leviticus shows us how God involved the priesthood to check for the sickness of leprosy.

We can see God’s wisdom in taking care of sicknesses in Israel to protect its community from communicable diseases. Leprosy was an especially dangerous communicable disease. It was not the only disease the priesthood could monitor but it is the most well-known.

Science was not as developed in the ancient world as it is today. They may not have understood the spread of disease because of infection or cross-contamination. Even today hospitals can be a hotbed of infection that spreads despite their best efforts to prevent its spread. It’s true that you can catch something easier in the hospital then you can in public.

The Old Testament Sickness of Leprosy

Leprosy is one of the most common sicknesses in the Old Testament. Our medical understanding of leprosy today is different from what’s in the Bible. Leprosy was a general term for a skin disease of any kind.

Unlike leprosy today, the leprosy in the Bible could heal quickly. It is one example of a fast-spreading disease that could infect many. Leviticus 13 outlines how the priests were involved in examining and watching such a disease in an infected person.

A person with leprosy would be put in isolation for seven days. If there was no change, the person would be placed in isolation for another seven days. After 14 days, if there was no change the person would be considered clean and be allowed to come out of isolation into the community.

However, if there were changes for the worse, a person was forced to live outside a city or community. If anyone came close to the leper, he must yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” This was designed to keep others from touching the infected person and contracting the same skin disease.

The only problem was that someone who was a leper for a long period of time would be so isolated from the community. You can see in the New Testament that lepers often formed their own communities because there was no rule against people who had the disease congregating amongst themselves. You cannot spread a disease other people have.

If you were a leper for a long time in Israel, you would be unable to see or spend time with your family. All your friends and neighbors would steer clear of you. You can imagine what this did to the psyche of a person. Leprosy was a terrible disease to have because of the isolation.

The Priests Examined Sicknesses in the Old Testament

Leviticus 13 outlines how the priest was involved in diagnosing and monitoring leprosy. The priest was the one to declare a person free of leprosy or to tell them they had to go outside the city and not be in contact with anyone.

This was not the only disease the priests monitored. They all had the job of pronouncing if a person was clean or unclean. Unclean people ranged from the leper to anyone who had improper discharges from the body. Even women dealing with pregnancy could be unclean for a time.

There were also Levitical laws for people not to enter temple worship because of a number of defects or maladies (Leviticus 21:18). Even if you didn’t have a solid sickness in the Bible, you would not be allowed to enter the temple because nothing with any defects or blemishes could be in the Lord’s house.

The principle of clean and unclean was more about holiness than isolating people are keeping them from worship. The principle showed people how holy and separate God is and what He expects of people in worship.

Because of these principles, priests and Levites could not be around carcasses of any kind, blood or discharges, or anything else that would make them unclean. They could examine people for such things but not be near them outside of temple practices.

If at any time leprosy or other diseases changed for the better, a person could be re-examined by the priest and proclaimed clean. This shows that diseases could progress or digress at any time in a person’s life.

Priests Evaluated Sicknesses in the New Testament

It’s no surprise that priests were still involved in diagnosing and examining sicknesses in the New Testament as they were still under the old covenant system. Jesus often healed people and told them to go to the priest for evaluation and proclamation of being clean.

In one instance, Jesus healed ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). He directed them to go to the priest and be declared clean. Unlike the priests and Levites who stayed away from anyone who was unclean, Jesus went so far as to touch lepers. His power to heal was greater than their uncleanness.

The same is true today. There is no sickness Jesus cannot cure and heal. Just as God protected the community from communicable sicknesses in the Bible back then, He can heal any disease today. He is greater than your affliction.

Faith was an integral part of dealing with sicknesses in the Bible. Whether in the Old Testament or New, people with faith often received their healing from sicknesses. The same system of the Old Testament where priests monitored anything that would make a person unclean did the same in the New Testament.

They were the first line of defense against sickness spreading through the nation of Israel. People didn’t live very long in ancient times because of afflictions and diseases. The average life expectancy was 30-45 years. If you live longer, you would be blessed.

The kinds of afflictions people in Bible times endured where defects, blindness, deafness, muteness, fevers, plague and pestilence, skin diseases, paralysis, epilepsy, and other various sicknesses.

Leprosy and how While the nations around Israel blamed the gods, used magic, and other various approaches to sicknesses, Israel used faith and trusted in God for healing. We do well to do the same today. Of course, there were doctors in ancient times as well.

Praying for Your Healing

Heavenly Father, I cry out to You for my brother and sister in Christ. We need Your healing touch today. We put our faith together and come before You, the only one who can change our situation. I ask You to move in our bodies and lives and brings the healing we so desire. We trust in You and thank You for the work You will do in us. We praise You now for all your blessings and helping us to live until we see our healing in our reality. In the powerful name of Your Son Jesus, Amen.

Up Next

We have described how God dealt with sicknesses in the Old Testament. Next, we will look at how God used sickness to punish the Israelites for rebellion and sin.

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